Fairy Stake Out [ Job / Balthazar ]

Today was a first for Artemis, not doing a job itself. He had done plenty of those, but actually doing it with another person. Normally, he tended to go at this things solo, for multiple reasons. The first being, his magic was a little temperamental, he avoided it as much as possible, which meant he was a little bit of a liability should he need to fight. He wouldn't want to be put in a situation, where he could loose his cool in front of someone else. The other reason was, he hadn't actually felt like he could, at Silver Wolf he hadn't fit in, simple as that. He was too much of a loose cannon, and he had sensed that. Black Rose was different, the air was different from the second he walked into the guild. He felt like he belonged, which was rare for him. Considering he only felt that way ina s elect few places, such as bars, parties, and hotel rooms with women. He wondered what that said about the guild he had joined, not that it mattered to him either way.

But this job was different, it was just a job requiring the collection of information, so the likelihood of his actually having to do any fighting was small. Plus he figured it might actually do some guild to get to know his guildmates better, he might actually last this time round. He arrived at the entrance of the Rose Garden, wearing a black t-shirt, his signature leather jacket, jeans and trainers. The only real difference was the black cap he had on as a mean of covering his face a little. He rarely mixed it up, unless it was required for the job. He waited for his fellow guildmate to arrive so they could get started.

Art heard the sound of someone approaching them, this had to be them. He sighed, so this was it. He glanced over as the guy created him, unable to help the of surprise on his face when he took in the guy who was joining him. This guy didn't exactly look human, but had the features of an animal, Art looked scanned the guy. He had seen individuals like this guy before but they usually looked like cats or dogs. Not that it meant anything about the guy, the factors of your birth didn't define you, Artemis knew that fact well enough. He offered the guy a small smile and a nod. "Back at ya, Names Artemis. Looks like we're looking for...uh..." He pulled the letter out of his pocket and read it over once more. The hell.. He thought, he really should pay more attention to these jobs before he took them.

"A perverted tooth thief." He said, not even attempting to hide the disbelief in his voice, why the hell would someone want to steal teeth? He thought, This is ridiculous. But then it was his own fault, he had only paid attention to the figure at the bottom of the job really. "I guess we should head out." He told his guildmate, beginning to set a pace. He wondered how to start, they had to locate the guys base and report it back. How the hell were they supposed to track this guy down. He sighed, "How the hell does a guy make an army out of teeth?" He wondered aloud, "I suppose we should just ask the locals if they've heard anything about this guy or missing teeth." It seemed like such a weird things to investigate, undoubtedly they would probably look like weirdos whilst doing it. 

Art considered what the guy was saying, nodding along at the guys words. "That true, I hadn't thought of that, Dark stuff." He commented with a shrug, now that he thought about it, it definitely could be a lot worse. He certainly preferred teeth to the idea of looking for someone trafficking internal organs or worse. Their wasn't much limit to what weird and dark stuff people were trying to pull these days. He'd heard rumours but still, stealing teeth, it was gross and creepy. "Nice to meet ya too." He offered politely, he wasn't sure if he meant it yet, it would depend on how the job progressed. The two of them set about their way, so far so good. Art wasn't especially good at meeting new people, for various reasons. They didn't always like his attitude, his treatment of woman, his wealth. It always seemed to be something, he wondered what it could be for this guy. For once, just once, he would like to be around someone that didn't talk to him like he was shit on their shoe.

He listened as the guy answer his question with his own theory, "Yeah I guess, it's sounds like a voodoo crap to me." He replied, he looked around the Rose Garden trying to find someone to approached. He spotted a young couple sitting on a bench, and nudged Balthazar, nodding his head at them. "Shall we start with them?" He asked, they were closest to them, and well they had to start somewhere.

Art watched as the couple's private moment was interrupted by the pairs presence, a momentary look of confusion followed by uncertainty painted across their faces. "Umm, tooth fairies? As in the story you tell children?" The guy asked. Art sighed, already the speculation was arising. He rubbed his temple trying to think of a way to break this down for them, in a way that didn't make them look like a pair of weirdos.

"Do you know anyone that has had teeth stolen lately? We're currently undergoing an investigation on specific criminal activity, any information you may have could be useful." he said, his voice strained with irritation. The couple exchanged glances, the guy spoke again. "Sorry I don't know anything." He replied, his voice seemed honest. The woman suddenly let out a little gasp.


"Oh goodness, I forgot," She turned to look at her partner, "Remember Becky, that blonde girl from my prenatal classes. Well, she told me her sister, who is in her third trimester got really bad gingivitis and her teeth fell out. Anyway, she put them in a jar for safe keeping, don't ask me why, Becky says she's an odd duck. Anyway, they went missing. Apparently, she woke up and some weird guy was climbing out her window with them in his hand." She reached into her purse, fumbling around for a moment before pulling out a purple iLac. She looked up at Balthazar and Artemis, "I could text my friend Becky and get her number for you?" She offered, Artemis hand had dropped drop his hand back to the side, looking already much happier.

"That would be grande Miss."

Art watched as the woman fumbled with her phone, texting her friend and waiting on a response. Art looked over at Balthazar, it may not be a lot to go on, but it was better than nothing right? Hopefully the woman would be able to give them a lead on where to go next or at least what to look for. He heard his question and shrugged. "I can do it, but if you have feel like you need to jump in go for it." He replied casually. He looked back at the woman in front of them, "Ahh, I got it!" She said excitedly, before called the number and handing it to Art. Art adjusted it so the voice would come out loud enough for both him and Balthazar to hear. After a few moment a woman's voice could be heard. "Hello~"


"Hello Miss, My name is Artemis Dagger, I'm called on behalf of Black Rose. We're currently investigating the local tooth thief and were made aware of the incident you endured recently and were hoping that you might have some information that may be useful to us." There was a pause for a moment, before the woman spoke up. "Oh, Black Rose? Isn't that the fancy guild with all the hotels and restaurants. Oh my, I mean I already told the local knights everything but I guess if it's been handed to you guys it must be serious. What would you like to know?" She asked. "Could you describe the man who stole the teeth? Did he have any distinguishing features?"

"Oh, sure... I mean I already told the knights everything but I guess I could describe him agin. Let's see, he had black hair, it was all slicked back like he had way to much gel. He had these really weird bulging eyes too, totally creepy. His nose was kinda crooked too, like it had been broken a few times. Oh and weirdest of all, he wore a necklace made of teeth, like human teeth. I mean I'm all for saving things that are lost, and I totally get the magical properties of teeth. But jewellery? That's so gross."

Artemis glanced over at Balthazar, who had seemed to have got his own device to take notes. That was a probably a good idea, who knew how long this would take. "Did he say anything to you? Or maybe you saw where he headed off to?" He asked, they had a description of the guy, some of the features were pretty unique too. They just need somewhere to start, the was a pause before the girl over the phone spoke again. "I sorry he didn't, I ran up to the window when he leapt out, but it was so dark that I didn't see anything..." Art felt resigned for a moment, however the guy on the bench suddenly spoke up.

"You know, I didn't think this was related, but I heard today that I haven't been the only recent victim. Only this morning I heard that a guy I work with was staying at the Silver Moon Inn, and he woke up to some guy trying to cover his face with a flannel. Screaming about doing it for the great good." Art's glanced over at Balthazar, there was a chance it wasn't but it was worth checking out regardless.

Artemis raised his brow, attacking the guide-hall was a seriously risky move. Stupid too, almost too stupid, even for a nut that wanted to steal teeth. Headnig straight into a lair of lethal mages and doing something so reckless. It was a miracle the guy hadn't been caught. Maybe that was one of the reasons the guild was interested in the job, preventing any damage to it's reputation in addition to apprehending the tooth thief. Letting a criminal attempt a crime there of all places, he doubted that they were going to let that one slide quickly. "Must have been a guest room, any of the guild members would've been able to handle it. As my comrade said, thanks for the help. Appreciate it." He said to the couple, handing back the phone. He turned in the direction of the guildhall, he didn't say where he was walking to. He figured the other mage would quickly suss that out. He glanced over at Balthazar in thought. "The question is how he would've got in, securities too tight for a break in. It had to be a guest surely, or someone invited in by one." He pondered to him. It wasn't long before they reached the Silver Moon Inn, as they headed inside. "Camera's are probably our best bet in terms of seeing, maybe we can scout the room too." He said to him, hopefully they may find a clue to tracking down their base of operation. They nearly had it, they just needed a little more, something.

"Yeah, that's pretty likely to be what happened. I believe it works like a regular hotel, so I presume details will have had to have been taken, at least of the person the guy was staying with. Unless the guy checked in himself, but that would be really stupid. Saying that, coming to Black Rose and trying to commit a crime, isn't exactly a smart move either so. The only problem would be if he didn't check in with anyone, and just walked in like you said." He said to Balthazar, at the very least because they were both guildmembers, getting access to the features wouldn't be difficult at least. He nodded at the guy's suggestion about the flannel, "Potentially, if he got caught he may have rushed to get out and dropped it,"

As they arrived at the guildhall, Artemis led the way inside, heading straight over to the front desk. Artemis exchanged words with the receptionist, explaining the situation to them. The girl hesitated for a moment, but nodded. Handing Balthazar the key to the room, before standing up, she nodded to Artemis to follow her to where the footage from the camera's could be viewed. "I'll meet you back here shortly," He told Balthazar, before leaving him to go inspect the room. Art stepped into the security room, the girl behind the desk quickly explained to the guys in there what was going on. Following this, they rewind the tapes for him. He proceeding to review the footage from the night before, his eyes scanning over the several screens on display to him. After several moments, he spotted the guy, walking through the doors of the guildhall, a perfect fit to the description provided to them earlier.

Artemis's scarlet eyes watched attentively as the weirdo walked through the guild, he seemed to be glancing around, even his mannerisms were shifty. How did no one pick this up?He thought irritably, the guy headed over to the reception, speaking to the same receptionist that was working at the desk when Art and Balthazar walked in. He seemed to talk to her for several minutes, his voice was quiet and mumbled a lot. Art's sensitive ears picked it up though, "U-um, I am meeting a gentleman in room one hundred and two, he should have left a message to say he's waiting for me."

That was odd, hadn't the guy said he'd been attacked in bed, if he had been waiting for him that surely he would've been prepared for it. Art's curiosity picked and the receptionist checked her nooks and nodded, before handing him the key. The man walked off down the corridors toward the room. Art's eyes darted to a different screen, watching the guy make his way through the halls. Until he finally arrived at the door of the room, he knocked twice, before the door opened. A man opened the door, leaning out he glanced down the hall to see if anyone was looking before letting him it. The door shut and that was it, Art turned to the security guy, "Does he make a re-appearance?" He asked one of them, he nodded.

"About three hours later, he leaves the room," He leaned over and touched the screens buttons. Fast forwarding the footage, just as the guard said, the door opened and the guy walked out calmly, hair a little ruffled but nothing else. Then nothing for a few minutes, "When did this get reported?" He asked confused, why wasn't the guy running out crying for help.


"It was reported around 10 o'clock the next morning." Artemis frowned, why such a wait, had the guy actually been knocked out. But the guy in the park hadn't said he'd lost his teeth. So why? Art thanked the guards before turning and heading back out. He turned to see Balthazar standing there waiting, "Did you find any evidence?" He asked.

Artemis stepped up to Balthazar, his eyes lowered to the tooth the guy was holding. Art reached out and took the tooth, rolling it between his index finger and thumb. His sensitive nose caught a slight odour, he brought it closer to his face, smelling it. A familiar scent of herbs and chemicals hit him, he knew that scent well enough. A slow grin began to spread on his face, "Oh I saw something alright, I think I know where this guy might be," He turned, and began to head towards the door, nodding for Balthazar to join him. As they walked out of the guild, Art began to head in the direction of town, finally he had a decent lead.

"The tooth thief was visiting the guy in the room, the guy let him into the room with no trouble and a short while later he left. The guy in the room however didn't report it until the morning, hence while the guild was unable to catch the guy. He was long gone by that point. There was a struggle, because the tooth guy was trying to take advantage of the situation. You see this tooth, it reeks of a specific type of opiate mixture. The tooth thief is a dealer, and the guy didn't report it straight away because he needed to come down. I'm sure Black Rose wouldn't respond well to guests doing drugs in their hotel rooms." He told Balthazar, leading him out of the Rose Garden into the streets. To the hideout of the dealer, where they would find the Tooth thief and handle him accordingly.

END OF THREAD