He Almost Jumped Out The Window, But That's Not How He Died

Today has been...a lot so far.

I got summoned by Mr. Simon last night, so I barely had enough time to meet up with Red this morning. Which, apparently she's raising her prices? Ugh. She said some new people have been moving into town. Which sucks. Thankfully it didn't cut into my finances too much but if this keeps up I might have to do something about it.

Anyways. I was barely not late to meeting Mr. Simon. He told Kovach and I that someone the Ministry has been paying off in the city guard named Captain Garris stopped replying to them about two weeks ago, and we were asked to "resolve the matter." Whatever that means. Mr. Simon did tell us that he wasn't the only person in the guard on their payroll, so if something were to happen to Capt. Garris it wouldn't be the end of the world. Which, good thing, seeing how things turned out.

We went down to Perch to poke around at a bar he frequents, and the Crow Master told us he was renting a room upstairs. Something seemed up with her, but I imagine I'd probably seem pretty off if I spent all of my time around crows.

It turned out to be a good thing that I've been learning to pick locks in my downtime, because it got us into his apartment. And uh, turns out he was home. I was really convinced he was going to be dead or away. And just about as soon as we walked in, Captain Garris tried to jump out the fucking window. Kovach tackled him, but I was too shocked by the fact we just met this man and he immediately tried to jump out the window to try and be of any help.

Kovach was really ready to slit his throat, and while I was trying to explain to him that hey, maybe we should ask this guy some questions first, someone shot Garris through the window. Of course, everyone panics, someone yells that they're calling the cops, so Kovach and I had to make a run for it. Even worse, we didn't get a chance to look around the room. And Garris had a whole conspiracy board he threw into the fire. I grabbed some stuff that didn't get torched before we had to climb out the window that Garris just tried to jump out of.

This really wasn't how I planned on spending my afternoon. My shoulder still hurts from last week and of course climbing out the window re-opened those cuts. At least my shirt didn't get too bloody.

Once we were on the ground, lo and behold, we see the guy who shot Garris. Kovach practically dragged me along while we chased him. We managed to catch up to him, and they actually landed a shot on Kovach. Thankfully he wasn't too badly hurt. It just grazed his shoulder. Well, Kovach wasn't hurt. This guy was definitely using a human gun, and it blew up in his hands. Flung him into a wall and I think he hit his head. Regardless, he's dead now.

Which meant we got to flee the scene of a second crime that we didn't even commit! Kovach found some kind of weird pendant on this guy's body that I didn't recognize, but it looks a lot like something you'd see in Amaranth.

Kovach's place was about an hour away, which was closer than mine, so we headed back there. (I'm also not entirely sure if I trust him enough to let him into my apartment anyways. And I don't need anyone else seeing the mess. There's a reason Aster is the only person I let visit.)

Also, Kovach's place is...weird. But it's kinda funny I found two conspiracy boards in one day. There were slightly alarming number of pieces of bloodstained paper. I asked about one and I guess it was a bill of sale from some Aelfir that sounded like they had it coming.

I finally got the chance to look at the papers I grabbed. They were definitely meant for the fire, but I'm not sure why. One of them was a sketch of some Drow wearing a red cloak, and the other was a syllabus for Introductory Prayer 102 at the Benevolent Order of Wisdom and Discovery. I'm really hoping we don't have to go there. Don't get me wrong, I don't have beef with the people who study there, but the whole place seems a bit...quaint. Not in a good way. But maybe I'm just being all superior because being self-taught isn't exactly a walk in the park. Neither is running around alternate timelines to find reports of fires, but I don't really think most places will teach you how to do that.

I had to tell Kovach how to put the pendant we found back together. Which at least gave the the chance to vape. Let me tell you, ivory hits so much better at the end of a long day when you're sore and exhausted. But it's only early afternoon.

Hopefully the rest of today is going to be a little calmer. Kovach said he'd let Mr. Simon know that Garris is dead. I'm really hoping this counts as "resolving the matter." I'd prefer to avoid opening those cuts again. Hurt like a bitch but I don't think Kovach noticed.

At least I have an excuse to hole up in the Vermissian for a while. I offered to take the pendant to the Vault and see if I could find any information on it. I kind of forgot how people who aren't used to being in the Vermissian think of it. Kovach was definitely suprised when I suggested going there. I guess it makes sense. The Vermissian does a number on people who aren't familiar with it.

Sounds like the plan is that once I'm done writing this, he's going to go talk to Mr. Simon and I'll go to the Vault. I wonder if I'll have to ask Cas for help. I'd rather not. Not like there's anything wrong with asking her, but I'd rather not bother her with pointless requests. And it would be a little embarrassing to ask since I spent four whole years living in Amaranth and I'm still going up there at least a few times a month.

Wonder when I'll hear from Leaves again. Hopefully he's not going to be working on me any time soon. At least, it would be nice if it didn't happen until I'm done climbing out of windows.