Civil War: Palua-Palua

Captain En'Teneal stopped Sergeant Lethe, as he began removing the armor itself. "As I said, no investigation or action yet, so...no reason for me to think you would not turn it all in to the Armory, yourself." Whether it was attempting to provide himself with plausible deniability while unsure of Sergeant Lethe's current motivation, or completely in step with Lethe's thought process, the Captain appeared to be doing what he could, in the moment to provide the Sergeant with a quick out.

He moved around the desk, to be positioned behind for taking over the duty. "Who among those missing, could you trust? And what about the previous nights, when you first suspected a possible conspiracy?"

"Bilko, Holbrook. Hudson might crack if you apply pressure, lads influential and confused. Aye and Sector. Our missing Captain might have a word or two...Pull in Brother Malak and put the screws to him..." He sighed. "I don't have anything solid other than my reports and my record to clear my name. I understand that doesn't give me much to stand on and like current events, that seems by design." Hektor waited a moment before adding "Anything else sir?"

"That will be all, for now." Captain En'Teneal said as he took a seat behind the desk. Nonchalantly adding, "after all, if I need anything else, I have no reason to suspect you to leave the barracks," with a grin.

"You are relieved, of duty. If you don't mind closing the door on your way out." He began looking through the reports provided by Sergeant Lethe, from the previous night.

Hektor nodded to the captain, left, closed the door and promptly made his exit from the barracks. He had few ideas, but a growing one that may pay off. Rather than risk anyone else in this sordid affair, Hektor would make his way to market, pick up some supplies for a few days and then head into the burned out area of the city, see if he could find anything useful, anything he may have missed during his hectic rush. The time could prove useful in piecing it together or he might just be hiding out in a place nobody would come looking for him in.

Regardless he'd be able to keep an eye on things without too much exposure.

The market had only just opened, so the stalls were heavily stocked and the streets heavily crowded. Regardless of Hektor's recent situation, as far as the general public was concerned, he was just a city guard wading through the people, buying his groceries. For the time of day though, most of the guard would be at the morning muster for shift change, so there wasn't much chance of anyone from the guard spotting him here, at this time.

Heading north from the market, Hektor would manage to find his way to the burned out portion of the lower district. It had only been a couple days since, so the collapsed buildings were still smouldered and untouched. The buildings that were not burned to the ground, but with fire damage, had been boarded up.

Lethe would take his time selecting a building that had been boarded up to see if any were serviceable as a base of operations. He added trespassing and squatting to his lost of crimes, dereliction of duty, failure to comply with a given order, desertion? He mused on that one, considering death was the likely outcome if he had stayed at the barracks either by shiv or by rope. 

With any luck he'd find a suitable spot that only had some smoke damage and he could comfortably scour the area for anything that could help.

Or in the worst case, ride out the storm about to befall the city.

The first building that Sergeant Lethe came upon, that at least still resembled a building, was on the same street as those he had entered previously as they burnt around him. It was two buildings down, and given the structural damage and collapse of others on the street, the view from the second story, or even the roof if he could manage it, would give him a solid view of the areas that had been burning two nights prior.

There were two doors on the ground floor; one that opened south to the larger street and one north that led to an alley way in the rear. Or at least what had been an alley way on the buildings north and east sides. The other buildings that made up this alley suffered considerably more damage and were more unstable large barricades, rather than buildings at this point.

Both doors were boarded up fairly well, but a window next to the rear door was open enough for Lethe to enter. The floors were covered in debris, likely to have come in through the windows from the collapse of others, as much as from this building itself. The window led to a small backroom, with a single door that led to a hallway leading towards the rest of the building. As Lethe entered, he heard a noise, like pebbles against a stone floor. The sound sounded like it came from inside the building, but it was not a certainty.

No sooner did he shake his head at his possible good fortune, Hektor turned toward the noise and readied his shield but didn't yet draw his sword. He crossed the hallway to the door, aware that his armor would likely make enough noise even he did attempt to be subtle. As he neared the latch, hand in position to throw the door open or hold it shut, he spoke in a low tone.

"Hello? Is someone there?" He waited a moment for any return response.

There was no response from the other side of the door, nor any other sound for that matter.

The door itself was smoke and heat damaged. When Hektor touched the door, the weight and feel made it apparent that it was just as likely to come off its hinges, as swing open, should he pull the latch.

Hektor licked his parched lips nervously then tested the door. He braced his shield against it in the event the fire had weakened the wood to the point of collapse. With his mind bent on moving forward he opened the door.

The door held together as it opened when Hektor pushed on it. Standing in the open door way, the light from the open window was barely enough to illuminate the shorthallway. There were two open doorways; one at the far end which led to the front half of the building, and the other about halfway down thw hall was closed and most likely led west to a closet or small room, considering the size of the building and Hektor's current location within it. The doorway at the far end was ajar, though only darkness beyond. 

The door creaked when Hektor opened it, however upon it coming to rest, there was only silence.

Cautiously moving forward, Hektor refrained fro drawing his sword, aware that the sound of steel rasping from its sheathe was one with which most people were familiar. He approached the closed door slowly, again stating in a low tone. "Is someone there? I don't mean you any harm." A truthful statement, provided if there indeed was someone there and they didn't mean to cause him harm. He stood to one side of the closed door and attempted to open it.

The door was not heavy, though when Hektor attempted to open it, it would not abide by his wants. The door appeared to be locked.

Separately, however, while no response came from the other side of the door; there was a scratching sound from the floor above Hektor, following him call out. The sound echoed from the floor above and through the dark open doorway at the end of the hall. This was likely an indication that the building stairwell, or perhaps a hole in the ceiling, was in that direction.

Hektor glanced upward then drew his sword. He moved with a purpose down the hallway and opened the door with the edge of his shield. He would linger there for a few moments, allowing his eyes to adjust to the change before heading deeper into the house.

Turning away from the locked door in the middle of the hallway, Hektor instead moved to the opposite end from whence he entered. He stepped into a larger room that was nearly pitch black. There were seams of light around the door that opened to the street to the south and windows that had been boarded up, but at no point was there enough light to shine through and actually illuminate the interior.

Adjusting as best as they could, Hektor could identify the location of the door, two windows, and a solid shadow indicating an open plan stairwell on the eastern wall, which would go to the second floor. There was no movement within this room, at least none that Hektor could see.

Taking a moment to inspect, Hektor would back out of the room into the previous hallway. Stowing his shield and striking up his lantern. He held it aloft in his left hand, sword at the ready and proceeded back into the larger room. If nothing jumped out to greet him, he would make his way up the stairs.

Ascending the staircase, up to this point, Sergeant Lethe had found nothing within the building except debris and darkness. The second floor was a different layout. The staircase opened again to a large 'front' room on the southern side of the house where the street ran past. Windows on that side of the building were boarded up as well, though one only partially, allowing the morning light to assist Lethe's lantern.

Towards the north, where down below, there was a hallway, instead two open door ways each leading to a separate room that divided the back half of the second floor.

The staircase opened right near the room of the northeastern quadrant of the second floor and he could see within, fairly well. It was an otherwise empty room with the exception of a table next to an overturned pair of chairs, and a ladder, running up to a rooftop trap door.

In the room on the floors northwest quadrant though, Lethe would have to move to the door to get a closer look, but in the darkness, it appeared there was a pair of eyes, looking at him.

Lethe scanned the area slowly, taking in anything that could be of use and any signs that someone or something else was here. As he turned to the northwest and began to proceed he stopped short. The eyes, if indeed they were, had gotten his attention. He didn't move for a moment, erred on the side of caution, then quietly spoke.

"Easy now. I don't mean you any harm." He would slowly move forward, in an attempt to bring the eyes to the edge of his light and get a better look at what might be there.

As he did, the light came upon first two small sets of feet, before illuminating the huddled mass in the room's far corner. Hektor had not breached the threshold of the room when his lantern allowed him to see the owner of the eyes. 

It was a young female orc, staring at him, in obvious fear. On either side of her was a small young orc, potentially her children. Both of the younglings had there eyes clenched shut and fists clenched their mother's clothes as they wrapped around her.

Even with Hektor still being in the larger front room, the overwhelming fear was visible on these three.

Hektor stopped once he realized what, or who rather, he was looking at. He set the lantern down and lowered his sword to the ground, not letting go, but trying to make it obvious he wasn't a threat. He kept his tone low as he spoke.

[Orc] "I don't intend any harm. I wasn't sure if anyone was still here. Are you alright? Is anyone hurt?"

Persuasion: 19