The Sircassia incident
On the 22nd day of Terseg 2500 AGF the Arbitors chamber charged their sheriff and his deputies to investigate the murder of a local dock hand who was responsible for the care of a ship named "Sircassia" while it was docked in Lakeshore. Sheriff Ezel Donatus decided that this would be as good a time as any to test out his newest deputy Horatius Dragomir, so they both went down to the docks to perform the initial investigation of the scene. Once at the docks Ezel sent Horatius to the Dockmasters office while he went to the Sircassia, Horatius talked to one of the dock clerks and found out that the Sircassia docked a few days before and it was registered to the Lagoon port shipping company (along with the filed manifest). Meanwhile Ezel had reached the pier Sircassia was docked at and preceded to investigate, finding several dried blood spots on the pier, which so far matched up accounts made by witnesses. What didn't match up was the fact that he found blood on the walkway leading to the ship, but before Ezel could get any further the Lakeshore shipping authority appeared and claimed jurisdiction on the Sircassia. Having been stopped in their tracks, Ezel and Horatius decided it would be best to figure out more about the ships owners and to see who the cargo was going to.
Ezel reached out to his shadier contacts to try to find out more about the lagoon port shipping company, and possibly what they wanted in Lakeshore as this was the first he ever heard of them operating this far from the center of Bralor. Horatius examined the manifest and nothing appeared out of the ordinary, carried some raw ore from the Oshon coalition to be refined by some of the local smelters. Horatius spent the next few days going out and talking to all the smelters, but they all had ordered the ore so everything appeared to be in order, during this time he also spent a lot of time at the tavern on the outskirts of Lakeshore that the other deputies attended. He met a barmaid by the name of Annette Seaborne that he took a liking to, She smelled of a field of flowers and had radiant red hair, though she rebuffed his initial efforts. Ezel heard back from his contacts and found out that the Lagoon port shipping company was a front for a criminal enterprise, it was mostly a smuggling operation. Ezel reached out to the Lakeshore Shipping Authority to try and get access to the ship, who agreed even though several days before he couldn't get the time of day from them. Ezel and Horatius went down to the Sircassia and met with a representative of the shipping authority and they investigated the ship together, while all the ore was accounted for some more traces of blood was found. This indicated that the victim was attacked on the Sircassia when conflicting testimonies stated the dock hand never set foot on the vessel, Horatius decided to check with the office and ask if anything out of the ordinary had happened in the last few days. The clerks mentioned they heard something about some cargo being unloaded during the night, which wasn't a normal affair. As the investigation was going on Horatius managed to become closer to Annette and managed to form a friendship, bouncing ideas about the case off her. After several days of dead end leads, Horatius was looking through the Manifest of the Sircassia and realized that the depth the ship was at when it entered the port was recorded, this was taken due to safety and tax charters. He then started to add up the weight of the ore that was ordered vs what was on the manifest and found that the amount sent to the smelters was less then what was on the manifest, by a lot. He went back to the port and requested another depth measurement be retaken and found the vessel was actually deeper, cargo had actually been loaded onto the ship.
He brought this new information to Ezel and they brainstormed, what would a smuggling company want want to bring into Lakeshore from Oshon? They decided to go back to the Sircassia, without the shipping authority, and searched again not knowing what they were looking for exactly. They finally caught a break when they found traces of Quartz, a banned substance that could heighten magical power but was highly addictive and would eventually cause paranoia. Due to the extreme change in the water depth they figure it was a lot of quartz and it couldn't be moved too far without drawing attention, so they organized a raid on all the local warehouses around the docks. Ezel praised Horatius and said he'd make a fine sheriff one day, wanting to celebrate before the raids happened he went to the tavern, he wanted to see Annette. The day of the Raid the deputies showed up in force, the whole district took notice, and they found nothing. Horatius was confused and disheartened, he searched every warehouse again but there was no trace of the quartz. The affair was a political disaster and Ezel was reassigned, out of shame of what happened Horatius turned in his badge, he went to the tavern to drown his sorrows. He spilled his heart out to Annette and she comforted him, but as the night went on he recognized the smell of flowers, not from when he was with her before but earlier that day in a warehouse. He confronted her and she confirmed his suspicions, she worked for the lagoon port shipping company, and he had given her the investigation.
With a broken heart he left public service, just being content to be a craftsman and doing the bare minimum at militia training, he wanted to burn this shame from his mind. He wanted to sacrifice it all to make up for what he did, he would get his wish 6 months later.
Ezel reached out to his shadier contacts to try to find out more about the lagoon port shipping company, and possibly what they wanted in Lakeshore as this was the first he ever heard of them operating this far from the center of Bralor. Horatius examined the manifest and nothing appeared out of the ordinary, carried some raw ore from the Oshon coalition to be refined by some of the local smelters. Horatius spent the next few days going out and talking to all the smelters, but they all had ordered the ore so everything appeared to be in order, during this time he also spent a lot of time at the tavern on the outskirts of Lakeshore that the other deputies attended. He met a barmaid by the name of Annette Seaborne that he took a liking to, She smelled of a field of flowers and had radiant red hair, though she rebuffed his initial efforts. Ezel heard back from his contacts and found out that the Lagoon port shipping company was a front for a criminal enterprise, it was mostly a smuggling operation. Ezel reached out to the Lakeshore Shipping Authority to try and get access to the ship, who agreed even though several days before he couldn't get the time of day from them. Ezel and Horatius went down to the Sircassia and met with a representative of the shipping authority and they investigated the ship together, while all the ore was accounted for some more traces of blood was found. This indicated that the victim was attacked on the Sircassia when conflicting testimonies stated the dock hand never set foot on the vessel, Horatius decided to check with the office and ask if anything out of the ordinary had happened in the last few days. The clerks mentioned they heard something about some cargo being unloaded during the night, which wasn't a normal affair. As the investigation was going on Horatius managed to become closer to Annette and managed to form a friendship, bouncing ideas about the case off her. After several days of dead end leads, Horatius was looking through the Manifest of the Sircassia and realized that the depth the ship was at when it entered the port was recorded, this was taken due to safety and tax charters. He then started to add up the weight of the ore that was ordered vs what was on the manifest and found that the amount sent to the smelters was less then what was on the manifest, by a lot. He went back to the port and requested another depth measurement be retaken and found the vessel was actually deeper, cargo had actually been loaded onto the ship.
He brought this new information to Ezel and they brainstormed, what would a smuggling company want want to bring into Lakeshore from Oshon? They decided to go back to the Sircassia, without the shipping authority, and searched again not knowing what they were looking for exactly. They finally caught a break when they found traces of Quartz, a banned substance that could heighten magical power but was highly addictive and would eventually cause paranoia. Due to the extreme change in the water depth they figure it was a lot of quartz and it couldn't be moved too far without drawing attention, so they organized a raid on all the local warehouses around the docks. Ezel praised Horatius and said he'd make a fine sheriff one day, wanting to celebrate before the raids happened he went to the tavern, he wanted to see Annette. The day of the Raid the deputies showed up in force, the whole district took notice, and they found nothing. Horatius was confused and disheartened, he searched every warehouse again but there was no trace of the quartz. The affair was a political disaster and Ezel was reassigned, out of shame of what happened Horatius turned in his badge, he went to the tavern to drown his sorrows. He spilled his heart out to Annette and she comforted him, but as the night went on he recognized the smell of flowers, not from when he was with her before but earlier that day in a warehouse. He confronted her and she confirmed his suspicions, she worked for the lagoon port shipping company, and he had given her the investigation.
With a broken heart he left public service, just being content to be a craftsman and doing the bare minimum at militia training, he wanted to burn this shame from his mind. He wanted to sacrifice it all to make up for what he did, he would get his wish 6 months later.
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