Those constables going on this first investigation have a very short trip over to the Harbor Market.

It's a busy, inviting looking place.  Conveniently close to the harbor and the docks, but set aside by its design.  The herbalist's shop is large and obvious on the corner, perhaps she voted herself spokeswoman for the market because she was closest.

It must get a lot of "working day" foot traffic because the shops mostly deal with the small, easy end of retail.  Food, repairs, a barber shop, a few odds and ends.  There are pushcarts in the plaza area enclosed by the market, where an old man sells finely crafted little statuettes of iconic inhabitants of the town- dancers and musicians, nobility in fine clothes, troops in Pomeran livery, even artisans... including a figuines of an artisan making figurines.  The dancers look like the best sellers.

The largest store is the fruit and vegetable market, all the way in the back.

As Mira described, nothing here looks rich or fancy.  There is a Connfectioner, but not nearly one of the city's best.  But there are baked cheese tarts that smell delicious.  It does seem to be a market for people on the go.  Some of the things for sale might even be targeted towards people leaving.  Souvenirs.  Of course there are no "I Heart Auxene" mugs (yet) but things like the little figurines, or the pillow cases with embroidered city scenes, make it clear that you've been here.

This is the first time many of the people here have seen Constables.  Some stop what they are doing to watch.


 

Khay is used to people staring at him as he walks along. He is usually balancing on a railing or swinging from outstretched poles, though. He glances at each store in turn, tapping his finger on his chin.

"I think," he says slowly, "that we should start by asking each of the businesses in turn whether they have been robbed. We can get a bit more intelligence on our culprits, and it would reassure the people to know that the Constables are looking into their problems." He looks at Andrea for approval, like a puppy hoping for a treat.

Theirastra watched from the roof as some of the others began to leave the for the market and called down to them after she stopped playing her lyre. "We're you guys off to?"

[OOC: Suppose I should post to the right thread if I want her to join in. :) ]
This message was last edited by the player at 02:33, Tue 09 Mar 2021.

With little more than a glance up at the roof Andrea gestures for the shouting person to come down and join them, with a pointing arm in the direction of the market.
Quietly to anyone on the ground she elaborates. ”We should use different methods to determine which is most effective, start with the basic introduction and offer to help with one of the smaller shops, and I will observe, on the next shop we will switch.”

Khay nods and decides to try at the barber's shop first. Talking about barbers has made him curious if there is anything interesting to see there. He pokes his head in and looks around.

Hedge hurried out to join up with the others who were headed over to the market, "Yeah mate, change it up as we go. Depends how they respond. Start nice and helpful like, and go from there, innit?"

Theira would make her way down to the group and join them. "So what did I miss?" She asked quietly as she walked up to them.

[OOC: To hurry things along I'll assume you guys brief her one the thieving stuff. :) ]

Hedge filled Theirastra in on the details as they made their way to the local.

Those going over to see Brother Marnely should head to the new thread:  St Abners.  That will help keep things organized.  The rest are, for the time being, here, though now separated.

********************

In the office, the Herbalist is still there.  She ponders the question about Dragon's blood.

Mira Kane takes a deep breath.  “Dragon’s Blood,” she says, as if to reintroduce the subject at hand.  “Where to start?”

She gives it a moment’s thought, and starts.  “Whenever you make something that’s true magic, whether it’s a magic sword or a potion that will protect you from fire, there’s a list of ingredients.  Most of those ingredients really have very little if any magic of their own.  Some thing’s might be good for you, some things might be toxic… but not real magic.  Take wine, for example.  Too much can kill you, so it can be a poison, sort of.  Some makes you happy, but is that really magic?  Or just a property of wine?

“There are some ingredients that supply the power to any magical recipe.  Like a wagon with a horse and driver, I guess.  The driver knows the direction, but the horse has all the power.  Jester’s Cap is a mushroom, and a little of that will… well it sort of acts like wine, but different… add some Dragon’s Blood, just a drop, to the recipe and you can get a powder that will have a room full of people laughing uncontrollably, and you don’t even have to tell them a joke.  So Dragon’s Blood is one of the Power ingredients. Jester's Cap just tells it where to go.  There are a other power sources, and they all share something in common, they are hard to come by.  Like the universe is working against us, making sure that these shortcuts aren’t too easy.  Maybe easy for the Elves, they seem to come by more of it than others… what the heck is liquid starlight, anyway?  But for Dragon’s Blood, obviously, you have to kill a Dragon.  And you’d have to be ready to collect the blood, and you’d have to know that some people will want to buy it.  So it’s not the sort of thing that’s a steady supply.  That’s part of what makes it valuable.

"Do you know what else is peculiar about Dragon’s blood?  If you ever talk to people who claim to know about Dragons, they’ll go on and on about the different kinds, and the flight patterns of a typical Blue and where a Black likes to make its lair… for a Herbalist or an Alchemist, the blood’s all the same.  I’ve never seen a recipe calling for a specific kind.  And the recipes can be very specific.  What kind of spoon to stir it with, whether you go clockwise or counter.  Anyone who ever calls that Widdershins is just trying too hard to impress you."

Meanwhile the others go into the Harbor Market.  A lot of curious shoppers look them over.  They are a novelty, after all.

The Harbor Market has about 20 shops, and a number of pushcarts that set up in the market.  The barber shop is small, and in the back- it’s a one man shop, a step above the “street barbers” that peddle the Docks area offering haircuts “on the go”.  The barber is a rail thin, busy looking man, somewhere in his thirties, and it takes him a moment or two to recognize the new constables for what they are.

He introduces himself as “Humber Beanward, the Barber of Harbor Market” and is immediately curious- off the various shops and cart merchants, what is it that has drawn the Constables here?

“I know I haven’t done anything wrong,” he says.  “I’m a guild member.”

But of course there is the chance that the Constables are here for his services?  His eyes brighten when he sees a head that hasn’t known a professional barber’s touch.  “You certainly want to do justice to your new uniform, sir, I can take you next if you wish.  Alas, I cannot serve the beautiful ladies, the guild says a barber can only cut men’s hair… and Dwarves, because, well, how it is with them.  Longstanding agreement with the Forthright Alliance of Hairdressers, Beauticians and Salon Keepers, you know, wouldn’t do to cross them.  But I can recommend Dina, across the market from here.  One-chair shop, like mine, but she’s a perfectionist who does it all herself.”

It's a small market.  Looking past a cart selling wicker baskets, you can easily see the hairdresser's shop from here.  Along with pretty much every other shop in the market.  The shops look they have one standard defense against serious thieves:  don't be worth the bother.  But then, for a lower class of shop, there is a lower class of thief.  Even an apple cart (the market has one of them, too) will be robbed by someone.

"Pleasant to meet you, Mister Beanward. I am Constable Vass, here on official business. I understand that there have been some thefts recently. Small gangs of people snatching from the shops, then fleeing. Have you suffered such a trouble, or have you seen anyone doing such a thing?"

Khay takes out a sheet of paper, an ink pot, and a pen. He prepares to take notes, and mentally decides there must be a more efficient way to store his writing items.

Andrea stays near the entrance to the barber's shop, not leaving but also willing to make it quite clear that she isn't tempting the barber to violate any guild traditions.

Theirastra will also stay near the entrance being attention and listen to everything that is said in the discussions.

Hedge was ready to tell the barber to piss right off, and only barely managed to stop himself as he remembered his new place. It was a good way to make sure the man kept talking, and it probably wouldn't hurt to look a bit less like what he actually was. "I might take you up on that offer, mate. Only we're quite busy at the moment, yeah? If you got information then we got time, but if you don't, then we've got other places to be."

In the crowded market, word gets around fast that the Constables are here talking to the barber about thieves.  Very fast.  One by one, others show up- a few shops are locked up, and pushcarts moved from their regular positions so their owners can get in on this, without leaving their wares too far out of site.

There is definitely a sense of community in the little market; they all know each other.  The way the market is arranged, a three sided box around a plaza, they all see others' shops all day.  In fact they have a better view across the market than of their own immediate neighbors!

Dina the Hair Stylist wanders over, as do a few of the push cart owners, a cobbler and his young apprentice, and one woman wearing an apron and a tool belt who is the only non-Human you have seen in this group- with those pointed ears perhaps she's an Elf of some sort, although a very pale, white haired one.

"They take apples all the time," the apple cart owner says.  "And not because they're poor and hungry.  They're too healthy to be poor folk.  And they take things from the others... and twice they knocked the cart over, just because.  They do it just because they want to."

The cobbler nods.  "It's true, they're as likely to break as they are to steal.  What have I got they want?  I take my tools out of my shop, all that's left are old shoes and leather and cord.  Once they smashed the shutters in and took nothing at all."**

"They climb walls and they hide their faces."  No one sure who said that, but there is wide agreement.

The different reports overlap in a few qualities.  The Harbor Market thieves move very quickly- take and run, which makes sense considering that if they are too slow they run the risk of being pounded to a pulp by burly shipwrights.

And according to Dina, they don't steal from the Herbalist.


**A cobbler is a person who repairs shoes.  A shoemaker makes new ones.  For most people here, having new soles put on old shoes is more cost efficient.  Shoemaking is considered a higher class of profession.

It was about now that the green skinned, green haired elf decided to speak up. "When they run off, do they run off in the same direction each time, or in a different direction each time?" She asked calmly.

Just as Hedge was getting ready to tell the barber he wouldn't have time to stick around for a cut, the others started coming in to share their tales as well. "It's your call, mate. If you wanna gimme a trim, I'll let you. But I'll have to take statements from all of these here, yeah? You cut while they do the talking, yeah?"

Theirastra quickly uncovers the first problem when dealing with groups of witnesses:  they don't agree on details.

"Always the same, over the roof!" the cobbler declares.  "The whole bunch of them!"

The roof, of course, goes around the entire perimeter of the Harbor Market except for one side facing the harbor.

"Their leaders come in from the front first, and check," the apple carter says.  "They slink around and tell the others when the time is right."

"How would they do that?" the barber asks.  "We don't hear them shout out to each other."

"Well of course they don't shout, that would alert everyone here."

"Well they don't use bird calls."

The pale Elf woman speaks up, with a quiet but clear voice.  "They know what they are doing, they have a plan, because when one of them is breaking it, the ones in charge get angry."

"They make a plan just to run around and grab and break stuff?" the apple seller asks.

The Elf nods.  "They come with a plan, they know exactly what they are supposed to do, and if one goes off plan they yell at him."