All 04.0 - The Fire Was Just a Coincidence

Nearly a week passed uneventfully for the three CSIS agents following their discovery of the hidden machine shop in Kalleandar. On the 8th of Tishrei, Victor had his arranged meeting with the police in regards to his identity. While in their headquarters, on the way to a personal office, Victor happened to bump into a familiar suit of armour making its way slowly down the hall. He greeted Mark-1, who replied pleasantly; they had a short conversation, where Mark-1 explained that he was staying in the office now, performing small tasks like filing and moving objects, and said that he was doing well, suggesting that he was starting to understand emotional terms. Victor bid him good-day, and carried on to the office. 
Inside, Victor met Inspector Ashford, a lauded detective best known for his magical capability. The two had a short discussion about Victor's identity: at first, he was offered an entirely new identity, including a name and home, and even so far as removing any traumatic memories. He declined, stating that it seemed like a hassle, and that he had too few memories to feel comfortable losing any of them. At this, Ashford then offered to complete the paperwork that would legally make his name Victor Erzebet, which his client agreed to. After Victor signed the papers, Ashford explained that this did not mean he was Viscount Erzebet, and that further investigation and court proceedings would have to be carried out before that could be declared; Victor had the option of either pursuing this, or letting the issue drop. In a rather non-committal fashion, he said that he was interested in the truth of his identity, so Ashford told him that the investigation would be ongoing. With a promise to stay in touch, Victor left.
The next day, the three were called into CSIS for a job. Ms. Willowick was not in the office when the three wandered in seperately; Caitlyn began reading the notice board, Victor read a newspaper, and Lucca began poking through a pair of books on Leanne's desk. The notice board held a bulletin declaring the recent escape of a dangerous criminal, Dr. Cohen, believed to have been sprung by the Riptide Gang. 
Ms. Willowick entered and asked for the return of her books from Lucca; she explained that she had been having a hard time finding proper storybooks of Northland tales for her children, so she was translating an old copy of an Ahpkalawok fable. Lucca expressed a desire to read the rest when she finished. 
Leanne then informed them of the nature of their mission: the Brotherhood of United Smiths, a crafting guild for weapon and armour smiths, had hired the agency to investigate a mysterious manufacturer which seemed to have appeared overnight. Whatever this company was, they had gained popularity for their ability to produce large amounts of product for a very low price. The guild was upset, as not only were these mass-produced items of largely inferior quality, but they were detracting from the guild's own business and harming the livelihoods of its members. Previous investigation of the chain of sales pointed towards a warehouse in Arlington, so the three of them were being sent there to determine the legality of this operation, in case there was some sort of infraction the guild could shut them down over. Armed with more paperwork than any of them would read, the three set out.
As they walked over towards the warehouse, they fell into a factious argument that ended with them spending over an hour in a tea house eating pastries. 
When they finally made it to the location, it appeared to be an innocuous warehouse, not out of place in the district. Lucca took on the form of a large, burly man who looked rather homeless. There was further discussion, drenched in sarcasm, regarding what they should do. Eventually, Caitlyn used her wand of Invisibility on the trio, who split up to investigate different parts of the building. Caitlyn entered the large, open front entrance, Lucca snuck into a back door that had been left ajar, and Victor went to investigate the side door that led to the administrative office. 
Caitlyn passed by a horse tied to a wagon who had been used to pull a shipment of some sort. A man was attending to the horse, and huge shelves filled the rest of the front area. Lucca found two men working a huge machine that appeared to consist of a huge vat filled with molten iron; the men used a valve to pour the metal into moulds shaped of swords before moving them off to cool on a rack. There was a second, similar machine that was not in use, though it appeared to have been recently employed in a similar operation involving iron thigh guards. Victor found, by peering through a window, three people working in the office, chatting and doing paperwork. The outer door was closed, though he could see that the internal door was left open; he walked around the building and entered the same door Lucca had used. The two, both invisible, collided just inside the doorway, but managed to not give themselves away.
Victor entered the office and began spying on the three, noting their names, what they were writing, and what information was visible on their desks and on a noteboard. Meanwhile, Lucca began to make a distraction, shoving stored thigh guards off of their shelves and causing a ruckus. At the first crash, the two workers paused in their work to argue about blame; at the second, they abandoned their post altogether to investigate, still fighting. The noise attracted the office workers, two who came out to address the issue while the other stood in the doorway, as well as a third worker who had been moving boxes. Victor took this opportunity to rummage through the desk drawers for interesting information. Caitlyn, for her part, milled about the front area before making her way to the foundry. She poked up and down the now-unattended machine before beginning to fiddle with the valve controls. With great deftness, she broke the mechanism such that it appeared, for all intents and purposes, to have given way due to mechanical failure. Molten iron began to leak out onto the machine and floor. 
Lucca, as he was shoving goods around, attempted to slide through a small gap between shelves. Unfortunately, he became terribly stuck. Despite his best efforts, he could not free himself; as each attempt failed, he became increasingly upset, eventually kicking and banging on the shelves in frustration. The workers began investigating more closely, but still didn't manage to find the druid until he viciously kicked one of the workers in the gut, dispelling his cover of invisibility. Now there was an angry, raving homeless man stuck in their shelves. 
The workers started to surround Lucca. Caitlyn, to try and draw off the aggressors, used her magic to make a loud crash around the corner. This succeeded in startling the horse, which bolted off and spurred the man who had been working with it to give chase. She also greased the floor, so that when the office workers tried to see what the new noise was, they became stuck. The one who had remained in the office though began to cast a spell of his own. Victor tried to shove him back, but the man kept his concentration, summoning a devilish badger. Thanks to Lucca's flailing and yelling, no one had managed to pull him out of the shelves, but now the badger began biting at him viciously. Victor managed to grab the office mage, pulling him through the office and tossing him outside. With the office now empty, Victor finished pulling information out of the various drawers and cabinets. Caitlyn took a position by the front loading door and began to close it, taking an opportunity to loose an arrow on one of the workers, lodging deep in his back but not killing him. 
As Lucca finally managed to pull himself free, the mage ran in the back door after having ran around the side of the warehouse. He yelled to his summon to enter the office as he saw the broken machine pouring molten iron all over the area. Lucca shoved past the now-injured workers and made it to the front door; Caitlyn shut it behind him, and the two ran down the street and away. Meanwhile, Victor finished collecting his information as the badger entered the room, snarling. The man, with his own threatening yell, frightened the animal. It cowered back and made a half-hearted snap at him, but Victor ignored it and walked calmly out the door.
The three reconvened to go over their findings. Between the documents, names and other information Victor had gathered, they determined that the factory was part of an operation known as Tidal Arms. They received their iron shipments from a company called MineCorp, ostensibly an Asonian mine operating in the southern Seldarin foothills, and sold their goods directly to stores. Beyond the fact that they were running a factory in a warehouse, there seemed to be nothing particularly illegal about what the business itself. However, when the three pooled their knowledge, they realized that the caster who had summoned the badger was a man named Darin Hargrave, a known and wanted member of the Riptide Gang.
After making their reports, the trio sent in their findings to Ms. Willowick, Ginger, and Pierce, and they were summarily paid by all three. As an added bonus, the Brotherhood gifted them with some fine items after an article was published in the news, stating that a mysterious warehouse fire had broken out, destroying the building. According to the Fire Marshal, an illegal foundry operation had apparently been run there and, when one of their machines failed, a fire broke out due to a molten metal spill. It had absolutely nothing to do with CSIS in the slightest.
Category:Advent of the All