Private Tales Fight Fire With Fire

[Ayreal Mellbrand]

"Well just because he ordered the bottles doesn't mean that he's our man, It could be one of his crew members. Besides, why would a captain set fire to his own ship? I say we go in there under the pretense of policy. We can say we suspect arson and that one of his crew might be responsible. If he starts getting nervous then we can be sure he was up to something. Let's not mention the bottle's right away. See how he reacts." She explained before walking up to the in and heading inside. It was the typical port side inn, a bit grungy but not to scabby to be immediately discounted by some more picky clients. It looked more old than dirty. Peeling paint in places but the floor was cleanly swept. She looked around spotting the man she was looking for seated at a table against the side wall eating a breakfast of eggs and fish.

She approached him with a professional smile on her face. "Good morning Captain Gordan, I'm one of the firefighters that helped put out the fire on your ship. The merchant council is under the suspicion that this string of recent fires is the result of an arson. It would be greatly appreciated if we could ask you a few questions."

Gordan looked up at her. He was a broad-shouldered man with dark scruffy hair and a beard that hid half his ruddy face. He blinked several times at her before pulling a pair of spectacles from his pocket and placing them on his nose. his eyes widened as Recognition dawned on him.

"Ah! Yes. I see. You were there at the fire... you did that voodoo thing with the flames," he was interrupted by a coughing fit and took a drink of his ale (the deluded kind you have with a good breakfast) before getting control of himself again. "Ah, yes. Ask away."

 

[Smiling One]

Willis shrugged. "I've known captains of ships who would burn down their ship just to collect the insurance coin." He replied. "I'm doubtful it's related to our situation but there are plenty of reasons why captains burn their own ships."

He remembered during his time as a Pirate of Pirate Captains willing to burn their own ship than to face capture. While it is an unwritten rule to treat one's ship as if their own lover, many pirates knew when to fold them whenever they are surrounded by Pirate Hunters or authority figures. Captain Davis told Willis a story of his old Captain, Elena a female Half-Elf who blew herself and her ship up to elude capture. According to Captain Davis, Elena was a Pirate Captain who placed her crew over her own she was beautiful, willful and dead in the middle of her prime.

They were smuggling some explosive substance to a Vel Anir general to assist him in their war against the Elves. However, pirate hunters were hot on their trail the chase went on for three days until Elena told the crew to abandon ship. The crew protested but Elena threatened to kill them all if the did not obey reluctantly they took the boats and sailed to the nearest island while Elena lit the substances and blew the ship and herself up taking the pirate hunters with her. Captain Davis said that she loved her crew and her crew loved her. Willis wondered though if the arson had any personal connections to Ayreal's family.

The duo entered the inn it was fancier than the Bullfrog though that's like saying lipstick on a Pig looks good. It was still dusty and Willis thought he saw an Elf eating an Omelet with a fly on it. At least the floor was clean the young man looked around as Ayreal approached the Captain who mentioned that she did voodoo with the flames. Willis chuckled at that remark some people have a primitive view on magic. "We're curious to know if you saw anything while your ship burned." Willis asked. "Any thing or anyone suspicious you saw before the fires?"

 

[Ayreal Mellbrand]

Gordan stroked his beard and stared off in the distance thoughtfully "Suspicious you say," He mused shifting his hand from his beard to scratch his nose. "I can't say I saw anything suspicious. As far as fire out of nowhere is suspicious. There's always people around the docks, even at night. I don't normally pay them any attention,"

"Do you think it could have been one of your crew. Have any of them been acting strange," Ayreal asked.

Gordan turned bright red and slammed his fist on the table. "My crew, you dare insult my crew. I would trust them with my life-" He broke off into another coughing fit. When he finally recovered he continued in a husky voice "I would trust them to hell and back. Don't go making baseless accusation's girl," He said jabbing his finger into the table.

 

[Smiling One]

The first thing Willis learned during his time as a Pirate was that a Pirate Captain's crew is their family. Even if the crew is a group of malcontents who doesn't know what a sail is if you insult a Captain's crew prepare for a verbal lashing. Willis remembered times where Captain Davis would end castrating a poor soul just because he made some snide remark over his crew. "We Pirates may sail the seas for treasure." Captain Davis told Willis. "But the greatest treasure a Captain has is their crew."

"She's not making any accusations Captain Gordan," Willis said stepping in front of Ayreal. "A Captain's crew is their family. I know full well what's that's like but sometimes the people close to us who can be our greatest enemies."

Willis thought about his mother the very woman who beat and abandoned him. Sometimes he wondered why he still pined for her as a child. It was that weakness in him that Willis killed when he took on his identity. "But right now these leads we got," Willis continued. "Are coming to you so the first question is do you know anything about the glass bottles?"

 

[Ayreal Mellbrand]

Captain Gordan scowled and looked Will up and down "What kind of bottle's do you mean boy? Yous needs t' be specific," He scoffed taking another drink of his ale.

"Some glass bottles were found among the ashes of sir Haris Dore's stables. The glassblowers guild said that you had recently collected a large order of said same bottles." Ayreal said crossing her arm.

Gordan spluttered and coughed. "An' you think that makes me an arson? You're brains fried girl if you think I'd set fire to mah own ship. Of course, you found Glass in Dore's stable. 'es the one who commissioned me to have them made. I gave 'em to him and then the next day my ship's up in flame."

Ayreal glanced at Will eyebrows raised in a question.

Captain Gordan stood up brushing his hands off on his pants "Now if you're quite good and finished insulting me I have other things to attend to."

 

[Smiling One]

Back to square one huh? Willis stared at Ayreal frowning something is not adding up. Captain Gordan was telling the truth judging by his body language and how meticulous his story was. It wouldn't make much sense that he would burn his own ship. A Captain's ship is their pride and joy, they would rather go down with their ship rather than sell it for coin.

As the Captain left, Willis crossed his arms in thought. "For the record," he said. "I believe him it seems that we've come back full circle."

 

[Ayreal Mellbrand]

Ayreal scowled, rubbing her chin deep in thought, "I don't know if it's quite full circle." She said turning to Will "If you remember our good Sir. Haris Dore denied knowing what the glass was, but if Captain Gordan is to believed, and Haris did order a large shipment of glass from him, then that means that Sir Haris lied to us."

 

[Smiling One]

"A word of a knight vs the word of a Sea Captain," Willis said continuing to cross his arms. "The public will believe over anyone else. They're supposed to honest and honorable and all that bullshit that people with a brain can see through that façade."

Willis spent enough time with Knights to know that they were glorified mercenaries who use their chivalric code to get what they want. Knights murderers, rapists and plunderers no different from a common sellsword. The difference was that Knights were heralded as the greatest warriors that people can aspire to become. Saying a knight remembered their vows is like saying Willis is a virgin.

"We need proof that Haris ordered that large shipment," Willis said. "A note or an official notice signed by both parties."

 

[Ayreal Mellbrand]

"I doubt anything would be still around at this point, it wouldn't surprise me if it had burned up in the barn or on the ship," Ayreal said leaning against the edge of the table. "Besides if he is guilty then why would he burn his own stable? and why burn stuff down in the first place? What's the motivation?" She asked with a shrug.

 

[Smiling One]

Willis sighed Ayreal was right why would a Knight burn his own stable? Horses were just as important to a Knight as their weapons and armor. Not to mention very expensive as well, like a captain burning his own ship a Knight killing their healthy Horses is beyond reckless. The young man crossed his arms and closed his eyes once again the two of them reached a dead end.

"What about the explosion at the factory?" Willis asked trying to think of any lead to cling on. "Something is just not making sense."

 

[Ayreal Mellbrand]

Ayreal sighed and raked her fingers through her hair, "I don't know. The fire originated at my cousin's station. They were the closest when it happened. Perhaps they can shed some light on this." She glanced around at the tavern then shook her head getting up beckoning will too follow her. "Come on. There is no point in hanging around here. They offered to help sort through the wreckage of the guild and get it back in working order as quickly as possible. We should be able to find them there," She explained.

 

[Smiling One]

Willis nodded though his stomach tightened a bit. It was frustrating trying to gain leads to be honest it was easier to find leads caused by a Lich than to find the culprit to these massive fires. People can be craftier than monsters when it comes to crime. "The fire originated from your cousin's place?" Willis asked following the redhead. "We could've asked them first."

It probably would've lead to nothing but at least they would get it out of way. Willis wondered why Ayreal didn't interview her cousin first? Perhaps because he was family that Ayreal didn't want to think that she was suspicious of them? "Right," Willis said. "Following your lead."

Something tells him that if they ever found who started these fires it wouldn't be pretty.

 

[Ayreal Mellbrand]

The Glassblowers guild was not far from the tavern. As they neared the location they could smell the remains of ash on the wind. Ayreal didn't mind it, in fact, she rather liked it, though it was also a reminder of the sinister threat of accusation that was hanging over her family. Men and women were working to clean up the rubble of the collapsed roof and to secure and stabilize what remained of the building so they could resume production with as little delay as possible. Sean and Gail were among them helping another man rais a beam to temporarily support the roof to keep any more of it from collapsing.

As Ayreal and will approached the men finished raising the beam into place and gave it a few whacks with a hammer to secure it in place. Wiping their hands of they turned to Ayreal and smiled.

"Hey there, What brings you here?" Gail laughed. Sean climbed down from the ladder and clapped Will on the back. "Thanks for helping out with the fire yesterday. You handled it well for a mundy."

Ayreal laughed uneasily turning a bit red. "Yeah, about the fire. It started at your station. We were wondering if you saw anything out of the ordinary,"

"Hum," Gail mussed stroking his beard. "Well, it was rather weird."

"Our apprentice, Johnathan, had just brought a new bucket of charcoal." Sean continued.

"He was just loading it into the furnace when everything blew up." Gail added solemnly.

 

[Smiling One]

The Glassbolower's building had some of its parts smoldered by the explosions yesterday. However the men and women who worked cleaned up most of the mess. Willis was thankful there wasn't any deaths yesterday, the arsonist would've paid bigtime if that were the case. Workers were placing tiles on the destroyed roof top and Willis spotted a man using pyromagic to bring more flames to the machinery to create glass. Pyromagic was interesting, according to Ayreal they don't use magic but rather the heat in the air to create fire. He wondered what was the difference between fire created by magic and fire created by nature.

It was then Willis was slapped in the back by a man named Sean. He raised an eyebrow when he called him a "mundy." Mundy is that the term magic users say to non practitioners now and days? Well it wasn't the worst name he was called for being a non magic user. A group of magic located far west from Ariethel who belived that mages are the next advancement in evolution and committed genocide on the non magic users who resided there.

In any case, Willis listened closely to the conversation trying to gleam everything that was said. "Where's Jonathan?" Willis asked piping in. "And can we take a look at that furnance?"

 

[Ayreal Mellbrand]

Sean and Gail went very quiet, then Gail spoke up, "His burns were severe. He took the brunt of the explosion. We did our best to try and redirect it but..."

"There was nothing the healers could do," Sean shook his head "He died of his burns last night,"

Ayreal covered her eyes with her hand, shaking her head "Damn it. Why did it have to come to this? This is getting out of hand," She pulled her hand back her eyes burning with fire and frustration.

 

[Smiling One]

Well Willis stood corrected a poor soul died from his burns last night. "When we find this cunt," Willis said his hands clenching into fists. "I'm gonna fucking chop up off their fucking arms and legs." The arson has gone too far. From burning buildings, horses and now man dying from the explosion yesterday. It almost made Willis feel guilty for playing around last night when he should be investigating.

"Where's the destroyed furnace?" Willis asked. "We can find something there."

 

[Ayreal Mellbrand]

Sean pointed to a portion of black chared collapsed roof that still hadn't been removed yet, "It's under there. You can help move it if you want but I doubt much will be left. That fire burned unusually hot."

Ayreal scowled and steepled her fingers pressing them to her lips as she thought. "None of this makes sense," Then Ayreal started as if something just came to her. She sniffed and then turned to Will. "Do you smell that? That acrid smell. It's that same unnatural smell from the stable. It's much fainter here but it's there."

 

[Smiling One]

Willis shook his head "tell me about it," he said to Ayreal. "But this thing sounds planed. The explosion, the knight's stable, the ships, the Glassblower's guild these were all targeted. The question is why?" It was then Ayreal smelt something and asked Willis if he smelled the same thing.

Willis tried to sniff but to no avail, he had no experience working in the forge compared to Ayreal. "I don't have the nose you have," he shrugged. "But I'm right behind you. Show me where it leads."

 

[Ayreal Mellbrand]

Ayreal glanced over to the section of blackened collapsed roof. Walking over to it she pursed her lips looking down on it for a moment before grabbing one of the more intact beams and leveraged a pice of the roof up with a grunt. Some of the terracotta tiles crumbled to ash while others clattered off smashing on the ground. She gave another shove and the beam flipped over landing with a crash, a puff of ash rising up, the acrid smell rising with it.

She climbed up on the wreckage pile, "It's coming from the origin point." Gail and Sean moved closer also taking a whiff and nodding.

"You're right, that's not natural. It's not anything I'm familiar with. You say you smelled this at the stables too?" Sean said climbing up next to Ayreal and pulling away another portion of the collapsed roof. A pice of the destroyed kiln poked up out of the wreckage, the entier top having been knocked off, leaving only the bottom half.

Ayreal started at it. "I don't know of any kind of natural fire that could cause that kind of damage."

"It may not have been the fire on its own. The if there was a flaw in the construction of the furnace the sudden rise in heat could have cause cracking. Enough so when the roof fell it knocked off the top." Gail explained.

Sean shook his head "Maybe if it was one of the other furnaces but we have been working with that furnace for years, it has withstood Melbrand level's of heat and never once have we had a problem."

"True," Gail shrugged. "I don't know what it could have been then."

"You said that Jonathan was loading fule into the furnace when it blew up? What if there was something in the charcoal that set it off?" Ayreal mused.

"I mean, it's gotta be. I just don't know what it would be. Nothing natural I know of would have burned that hot under those conditions." Gail shook his head folding his arms.

Ayreal pursed her lips and looked back at Will. "And we're back to square one, as you would say," She said climbing down from the rubble pile.

 

[Smiling One]

Willis observes Ayreal investigating the damage to the furnace crossing his arms and listening to the conversation between the redhead and her family. So the explosion was likely caused by a person who wields pyromagic. It wasn’t an accident after all at least that was Willis’ hunch. Ayreal said that they were back at square one again but at least they had something to go on.

“Its possible,” Willis stepped closer to the destroyed furnace to get a better look. “That this furnace has been tampered with. Some one might have messed with it so when you guys made the usual rounds: Boom furnance destroyed, roof obliterated and something that’ll throw us off the trail.”

It could be possible but unlikely.

 

[Ayreal Mellbrand]

Ayreal looked at him brows raised. "Actually that makes a lot of sense. That way they wouldn't have to have been anywhere nearby either. Perhaps that is why most of the fire's have been in places where Melbrand's work. What if whatever is being used to set these fires has a temperature threshold?" She began pacing rubbing her chin as she thought "Though that doesn't explain the stable or the ship... though those fires were larger and more widespread than the others. Not sure how that helps though." She stopped pacing and looked up at Will and the others.

 

[Smiling One]

Willis continued to cross his arms while Ayreal began to question about why would a person would burn a Knight's stable and a ship. "If I had to guess," Willis said. "It was to make it appear that these attacks occurred at random." Willis frowned watching Ayreal pace around as he sighed. "Whoever this arson is," Willis said. "He knows the Mellbrand glassblower business well. He knows the exact temperature threshold to blow up the furnace and he set fire to the other places to throw us off his trail."

The young man approached Ayreal. "I think," Willis said. "This arson is a person who works for your family. He knows this place well and knows which areas to burn. All these arsons are too clean for an amateur, we're talking about an expert and possibly a pyromage."

 

[Ayreal Mellbrand]

Sean scowled crossing his arms, "Are you suggesting one of the family did it? Because family does not attack family," he said looking down at Willis.

"Besides," Ayreal interrupted "Pyromagic can't be done remotely, so it couldn't have been..." She trailed off.

"Unless the young man was insinuating that Me or Sean did it." Gail scoffed.

"I don't think that's what-" Ayreal started.

"Oh don't worry he doesn't suspect you, he thinks you're too pretty to commit arson." Gail scoffed.

"That not-" Ayreal stammered

"It's ok-" Sean said.

"I'm talking!" Ayreal shrieked "Let me finish," She snapped glowering at everyone, including Will. "You," She said pointing at Will "Are an idiot. And you two," She said turning to her cousins and folding her arms, "What he means is that whoever it is must have some knowledge of some kind of fire magic, pyromancy etc. As for knowing were the Melbrands stations are anyone could have staked out the place beforehand and asked which one it was."

 

[Smiling One]

When doing detective work one of the first things Willis learned was to not let your personal feelings get in the way of investigating. Of course judging by how defensive Ayreal and her cousins were to Willis he can see why that was a rule. "Never suggested that at all," Willis said crossing his arms. The young man never had a family so it was easier to separate work from his personal life unlike Ayreal.

Willis remained silent when he was being dogpiled by the Mellbrand family though he noticeably cringed when Ayreal called him an idiot. "Second time in a row," Willis thought. "How many more fuck ups am I going to do today?"

 

[Ayreal Mellbrand]

Ayreal sighed "Alright. What do we have to go on? We have a pattern of attacking locations were Melbrands work. We have two locations that fit do not fit that description, a noble's stable and a trade ship. There is the odd smell from the wreck of both the stable and here. There is the glass bottle found in the wreck of the stable which Dor denied knowing anything about but the captain said that Dor had personally asked him to order them for him. Why did Dor need such a large order of glass bodles, why did he lie about it, and why didn't he just purchase them himself? Then we have potential tampering with the furnace here and the melted gate lock back at Dor's place," Ayreal stated listing all the evidence they had collected so far. She pursed her lips and steepled her fingers "We have all these clues but no clear motive. Sure it could be the Captain, one of his crew, or Sir Dor, but why? Then there is the surmounting evidence that this person knows a good deal about fire and I doubt either of our suspects knows much about that."