Investigations Into Criminal Activity [Job Thread, Private]

As the sun started to set and the day started to cool Markus found himself looking around the familiar city, its streets, its citizens, and its atmosphere brought a feeling of nostalgia, even though it had been a while since his last visit: He loved Talonia despite everything. He always found work when he was in town, and some of it was even interesting.

That is what brought him here this time, he had heard a rumor that peeked his interest. From what he knew there was a powerful criminal organization that has been causing trouble all over Fiore, enough so that not only the police force were involved but even the Rune Knights had started to investigate, but without success. Soon however, there started to be disappearances, from what Markus heard three officers have gone missing, it was unsure whether they were kidnapped, or killed. For that reason the Magic Council went public, and started hiring mercenaries and wizards to help.

That is where Markus came in. He did not care about the criminal organization, and normally would be happy allowing them to continue along their way, hell he might even see if they had work, but this time he had personal stake. There was a Rune Knight by the name of John Luck who had once let Markus slide by with a Magic Infraction, minor of course, but because of this Markus felt he owed the man. And, of course the reward helped sweeten the deal.

Upon further investigation Markus found himself at the Talonia Police Department, talking to an officer who was assigned to the case.

"... here are the files we have on the organization", the man said. He smelled of smoke, and grime as he took his time. Everything this man did seemed slow, as if he hadn't a care in the world. Markus was having trouble keeping his cool. "As you can see, there is not much information. The 'Rune Knight'," he said the words with distaste, as if he had eaten something sour. "came though here, asked some questions and then continued on his way to the Arena."

"I can't see why the council though they should bring in outsiders, we have this handled." The man said while sizing up Markus, who was dressed as usual. He wore plan black jeans, and a sleeveless shirt, over which he wore a long and worn dark coat. His arms were wrapped with grimy white wrappings, and around his neck he wore his scarf, also black. One would wonder if Markus had a theme. "Your a mercenary right? Some sort of 'Wizard'?" the words were spoken in the same way as 'Rune Knight'.

Markus signaled his affirmative and wasted no time looking at the case files. He was surprised they were so short, almost empty with only a few pages of relevant information. There were no suspects. Once he was done, Markus spoke a quick thanks and walked out the door without a second glance.

The police it seemed would be useless here, and the questions kept piling up.

Markus spend the last few business hours of the evening exploring the Arena. Asking questions. Taking names. The more he looked, the weirder this entire situation seemed, no one seemed to know or have seen anything, and those who had, or should have, were keeping oddly quiet. However, that wasn't the strangest part. As he looked around, he got more and more weary the later it got, the less police he saw, the less they seemed to care, watch, monitor. It was unsettling, he was so used to the officers exploring his childhood home, especially in this area of town.

Markus knew he would have to wait, watch, and discover the truth. Sadly that meant a lot of time sitting on his ass watching the grass grow. Hours went by like this, Markus sat in the shadows which seemed to envelop him. He knew there was little chance he would be discovered. Even with that in mind, he tried his best to keep watch.

Sadly for Markus, the night came and went without anything of note, which meant he wasted a perfectly good night of doing... well he didn't know what he would do, most things required money... Just as Markus was gonna call it for the day and look for a perfectly good alley, something caught his eye.

About a block away Markus noticed the same officer who had helped him earlier, he was acting strange a hood was pulled over his head and we was looking around, as if trying to avoid being followed. Markus, luckily, was in his element, the shadows clung to him and he knew, unless this man had some magical ability Markus was not able to sense, he would be safe.

Markus followed the man, from one alleyway to another, from one back street to the next. Wherever he was going, he was trying his hardest to make sure he was not followed, and he was pretty good at it. Markus, dispute knowing he could not be seen, had trouble following the man.

After a few twists, turns, loops and a back-trace or two Markus found himself alone. The officer was gone.

Markus spent a few minutes exploring the alleys and streets nearby where he had last seen the man. In the end, it was pure dumb luck which had saved Markus from wasting another day of work. As Markus was preparing to head back to the alley he was using as a home he noticed him, the officer leaving, heading back the way he had came. Markus, thanks to his position, had been lucky enough to see which door the man had come from.

Knowing that he did not need to get seen tailing a cop, even one who was acting sketchy, Markus decided to pull up his hood. Next, Markus pulled his scarf over his face, completing the circle and activating its magical ability. As soon as the scarf covered his face, and observer would notice that his face was no longer visible, and in fact looking into the hood would show only darkness, or an empty space.

As Markus walked forward, he noticed the the alleyway was well protected, the area itself tucked into a dark corner within the capital. Once he reached the door a quick examination told him that it was locked, though luckily for him. Markus, as it turns out, was a wizard(who would have known).

After some work, and a little bit of force, he was able to break the door open, turns out his type of magic isn’t really useful for pick-locking a door. As soon as he was in, Markus started to hear something strange. It sounded like something was shaking, or… banging, and then he heard it. A muffled scream.

Markus ran forward, and despite what he heard was caught off guard by what he saw. On the ground, bound in rope and gagged was his old… friend, though Markus used the term loosely. John Luck was still dressed in his Rune Knight uniform, though it was ratty and warn. As if he had been here for a while.

After unbinding his hands, and helping him stand Markus listened as Luck told him the story of what happened.

As it turns out, the criminal organization had some pull on the local police force, and had the local Police chief in the grasp. John left, asking asking Markus to deal with the chief, and informing him that he had to report back to the council, who would compensate him for his work.