Re: The Case of the Harbor Market Thieves
The roof tops turn out to be quite a sight.
Nothing unexpected... everyone here has a pretty good idea of what is up there, being on the bottom all the time looking up.
But once up, the perspective is all different. Some things become obvious, others less. For one, moving across the roof tops would be quite a challenge. Khay Vass can do it, but he's good at things like this. Most people would struggle.
This is because the roofs of Auxene are built to handle that heavy winter snow load. They are pitched, many of them quite steeply, and moving across the sloped roof can easily lead to a slip and fall. (Ask an Auxene healer about the number of roofers that come to them for help!)
The market is laid out in a U shape. Every building on the east and west side has a short terrace on the back side, and then a small back yard, and then there is the rear wall. On the west, past the back wall is a street, and then the town's old perimeter wall. On the right side, there is a street, and across the street there are the small stucco and timber buildings of the Old Town. The back row of shops, the end of the U, has no rear yard. Those shops are backed up right against Old Town, which is a tight maze of roofs of different heights.
From up on top Khay can see that one roof here would be easier to navigate than the others. That's the Herbalist's roof. She built a series of platforms for growing herbs on the roof, with a catwalk. It's the sort of thing that if not done very carefully would lead to a lot of leaks, but it gives her a lot more growing space... and would allow someone to move across her roof easily. Some of it looks damaged.
The rest of it... clearly, to cross these roofs, the thieves must be agile, and know what they are doing.
Down below, collecting reports, the others collaborate that. The pale Elf woman can give a really accurate height report... "Just about my height", which would be just a little over five feet. And thin. The others concur... it seems that the thieves are not as large and heavy as a typical adult male human. Though some are taller than the one the Elf woman reports. Or maybe those reports aren't accurate.
As for exact appearance, no one can say, the thieves hide their appearance. But the witnesses hit upon a common feature. yes, they were masked, all of them, but they always have hoods, and those hoods are always pale grey. It's not than uncommon an item of clothing in Auxene but they always wear them no matter what the weather. Of course they never come when it's wet... and of course the roofs are exceptionally treacherous then!
They also agree that the ones in charge are taller than the others.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:13, Sun 21 Mar 2021.