Residue of Sorrow

Bryn leans against the wall of a building whose doors are kept open as soldiers come and go. It is one of the larger buildings around, and the soldiers who enter and leave often carry some equipment - mostly clothes - with them. He notices a remarkably small sign that says "logistics" nailed on the wooden door. Most likely, not a place where most soldiers visit to rest, but he's not the only one around who spends a moment here or there to rest when they can. Most soldiers completely ignore his presence, or return a similar gesture if they notice him.

Bryn also notices, in his time observing the soldiers around, that he sees Elves, Gnomes and Humans in about the same ratio as can be seen in the rest of the city, and that he can hear conversations in both the Common Human Tongue, Elvish and Meyen. But whatever their origin, all soldiers in the area are men.

Meanwhile, at the gate, the two guards are unsure whether Arren is serious or not. They've been pranked by superiors before, but Arren seems serious enough and injured enough that they dare believe him. "Yes... sir. We'll send someone."

They're unfazed by Arren's pretend play of asking for their help. They both know, and so does Arren, that he can't ask them to leave their post. Similarly, Arren knows these two can get an unfortunate soldier to search the Bogie Burrow, but anything relating to closing the entrance is far above their rank. Higher than Arren's, too, though he can at least raise the issue for others to consider.

It doesn't take long for Arren to find Bryn. He knows who to look for, and although he makes an excellent act of a soldier resting for a moment just after finishing an errand, he's standing in the same place for quite a while. He finds him next to the logistics building, where Lieutenant Hale, if he's there right now, probably receives numerous requests for new gear, or the fixing of older one. With so many soldiers wearing uniforms, there are sure to be some finding tears in them at any given time.

Once he finds Bryn, Arren knows his way around the camp and can lead to any place he wishes. Assuming the two head directly to the stables, they'll see the carriage parked in a designated spot by the stables, where it's always kept when not in use, among several other vehicles of different types. Arren knows he can find Choco and Mocha inside the stables if he goes there. The carriage is locked, as always, but Arren will have received the Lieutenant's key (although I forgot to mention that before) to the storage space in the back. There, he can find anything he left inside. The area where Commandant Nattensbarn usually sits is locked, but completely empty. To Bryn, who has never seen it not packed with papers, it must seem a little strange.

"Masterfully played," Arren says once they are both away from prying ears. "Not that I doubted you'd blend in perfectly, but I have to admit it was something to see you fit in so naturally among so many of my kind. Are you absolutely sure you're not a soldier?" he jokes.

Arren would very much like to pay a visit to Choco and Mocha, but curiosity about what the Commandant might have left for them — if that is truly the case — and his growing desire to get this over with and finally get some rest win out over everything else. So he heads straight for the carriage.

He pulls the key Poule gave him from the inner pocket of his coat and unlocks the storage compartment. As he does, he notices Bryn looking perhaps a little surprised at the empty passenger cabin and comments, "Yeah, that's what carriages normally look like."

He begins taking out everything he had left inside, passing some of it to Bryn: oil flasks, torches, his bow and arrows, the shield he used before receiving Aegis, and so forth.

"Sorry for loading you up, but we need to play the part."

Arren then searches carefully for anything he does not recognize — anything Commandant Nattensbarn might have left behind. If he finds nothing of the sort, he turns to Bryn.

"Perhaps we misunderstood her?" He pauses thoughtfully. "Or maybe she did leave something, but the logistics soldiers stored it away. We might need to pay Lieutenant Hale a visit,  assuming he's the one on duty today. They have keys to every carriage, after all."

Arren, please make a Perception check (Bryn can help, if you wish).

Perception check: 11+3 (rolled with advantage in case Bryn helps, and I got a 10+3). So, it is a 14. I'll bump it with a Tactical Mind just in case: 14+7 = 21

"Pretending to be a lowly soldier is not that difficult, you just have to do what you are told and try to look busy and not too bored when the officers are around", Bryn whispers back, with a chuckle.

He follows Arren to the carriage, his eyes immediately drifting to the empty passenger cabin. As a man used to seeing the Commandant surrounded by a fortress of parchment and ink, the hollow space feels almost loud in its silence. As Arren unloads the lockbox, he takes the shield and the bundles of torches with a mock-strained grunt, adjusting his grip to keep up the facade of a weary recruit. He flashes Arren a quick grin, the kind that says he’s enjoying the game far too much.

He sets the gear down carefully by his feet, and leans in to take a look at what remains, trying to help as best he can.

"If she left us something meant only for our eyes, she might have tucked it somewhere a standard key wouldn't reach. I could always open the carriage itself, she does know I can do that", he offers quietly, as an alternative if they don't find anything.

While searching the box, Arren reaches deep into it, where it is hard to see from the outside. Although he thought it was empty, he suddenly felt something that was not wood. Something hard but a little flexible, long but narrow and flat. Arren grabs this item and retrieves it from his box, but to his disappointment, a piece of dried, salted beef is all he finds. Must have fallen from one of the rations.

Second Wind not expended.

"Disappointing," Arren muses, showing Bryn the strip of salted beef.

"If you can open the carriage, then please do. I'd rather not have to turn a senior officer unless it's really necessary."

Arren takes a look through the rest of the carriage just in case, checking beneath the seats, inside smaller compartments, and around the driver's bench where he usually sits for anything that might have been hidden there.

He's growing more convinced that there was never really nothing to be found, though.

Bryn stares blankly at the strip of salted beef for a beat, a dry smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "A culinary masterpiece", he murmurs under his breath. "But a little lacking in the explanations we were hoping for, it's true".

At Arren’s nod, he squats as if collecting up the items he had taken, as he has a casual look around to ensure no-one is close enough to observe or hear him.

When satisfied that the busy military machine is sufficiently distracted by its own routines, he subtly makes the gesture and whispers the words to summon his invisible spectral hand right inside his own pocket. The spectral fingers wrap around the familiar steel of his thieves' tools.

Instead of stepping up to the lock, he remains crouched, send the invisible hand, complete with thieves' tools to the lock on the carriage door. He focusses entirely on the tactile, sensory feedback of the magical bond, feeling for the tumblers, the tension of the springs, and with any luck the satisfying click of the lock giving way.

If successful, he gathers the items and stands up, throwing a smile to Arren. If it is not successful, the smile will be a frown and a small shake of the head.

Either way, the spectral hand stows the lock picks back where they came from.

Sleight of Hand (at Advantage due to Thieves' Tools Proficiency): (11, 20) + 8 = 28

(Wow, another nat 20!)

((I have always believed the sheets' dice to be loaded. Guess I'll have to start excusing disadvantages to see which of you will be the first to roll a nat 20 at a disadvantage. Anyway...))

Opening the lock is so simple, Bryn is a little surprised himself. Surely he had expected a stronger lock on the carriage, but it's actually a very simple one, bordering on the cheap side. No match for his abilities. 

Once the carriage is open, the two can enter the passenger cabin. Neither of them has been there before, although it is not a very exciting place to be now that it's empty. After sitting in this small chamber for years, the Commandant's scent lingers, although faint. The only things that are not part of the carriage that were left inside are the Commandant's wooden desk and a small wooden stool underneath it, but these don't seem to hide anything. They do take up most of the space in the carriage, so Arren and Bryn might want to take them out, temporarily, to search thoroughly.

Searching the passenger cabin for anything the Commandant may have left behind, it looks empty at first, but Arren is thorough in his search, making sure there's nothing missed (using your previous roll). He finds several compartments that he never knew before. Not exactly hidden, but ones he had never seen opened. Not particularly surprising, given that the Commandant always seemed to produce items that couldn't be seen from outside, like her rapier, when she needed them. These compartments are all empty, however.

If Bryn or Arren search the carriage's interior, the desk, or the stool, for any messages engraved into them, they find none.

((I'll admit it was a cool idea and I was tempted to follow with it when Bryn suggested it, but not this time.))

Arren watches with interest as his companion manages to unlock the carriage without moving an inch. Truly, a remarkable ability.

When searching the carriage yields no results, he simply shakes his head. "Nothing. I suppose she only wanted us to empty the carriage. And now that's done, I think it's better not to push our luck with the disguise."

Arren proceeds to lock the rear storage compartment again, pocketing the key afterward. They probably won't be using it again anytime soon, but since Logistics has their own copies anyway, he doubts it matters much that he keeps it.

"I'll still go report the incident with the Elf. Will you wait for me at that tavern from a few days ago? I'm not sure what our next steps will be. I assume she'll contact us if she eventually decides to leave, like she said she might. I could leave a message on her desk telling her where we'll be."

Unless Bryn objects, the two part ways for the moment. Bryn will still need to carry some of Arren's belongings for a while to help maintain the appearance of a recruit assisting a superior, and Arren will ask around about any incidents in Pyorre that might match the Bogie Elf's methods. He also intends to inform that the entrance to the Bogie Burrow is far too unprotected and ought to be reinforced somehow.

As planned, he also leaves a short message on Commandant Nattensbarn's desk, informing her that the carriage has been emptied and that he will either be at the specified tavern or at his residence should she wish to contact. He doesn't mention anybody else for obvious reasons.

Bryn lets out a soft, defeated sigh, but the smirk returns to his face almost immediately. "Well, it was a good theory while it lasted", he whispers back.

He watches Arren re-lock the storage box, nodding along with the plan, "I can take the things that are not obviously military equipment, that should be fine. And yes, I will head to the tavern and keep an ear out for more gossip". 

As they move away and prepare to separate, he gives Arren a crisp, albeit slightly mocking, recruit's salute. "Good luck with the report".

With that, he prepares to slip away, eager to discreetly shed the uniform and sink into a quiet corner with a tankard to think over their next move.

Arren reports about the Elf. It is a rather boring process in front of a clerk who fills out a form. They ask for the details not out of interest but out of duty and add the final report to a sizable stack of other reports that wait to be reviewed by someone, sometime. Incidents of any kind aren't exactly uncommon, though most aren't nearly as interesting. It might be a while before anyone even sees the report, or it could be the very same day, all depending on how enthusiastic the officer on duty feels about their work today. The clerk says they haven't heard of anything similar to the Elf before, and once they ask the second clerk, it seems the other one hasn't heard of anything either.

The same clerk also fills a different form regarding Arren's suggestion to reinforce the entrance to the Bogie Burrow, placing the finalised suggestion on a different, smaller stack of papers. But Arren wouldn't be the first to fill such a request, and he can't help but feel he won't be the last either. Why it hadn't happened yet, however, is not something someone of his position gets to know.

None of the above happens in the logistics building, and you didn't specify going there, so for now, I am assuming Arren doesn't go to visit Lieutenant Hale.

The Commandant doesn't really have a permanent desk, but she's usually assigned some room in the military's central headquarters, a large building in the centre of Pyorre and outside the barracks. It's not a long walk, however, and if Arren goes there, he'll find that Commandant Nattensbarn hasn't cleared the room yet, but she isn't there, either.

Bryn, meanwhile, arrives at the tavern. He'll find that at this hour, too late for breakfast yet too early for lunch, the place is almost empty (It is somewhere between 11:00 and 12:00). There are only a few other customers, civilians as far as Bryn can tell, and none of them speaks of anything that catches Bryn's interest.

Arren will arrive at least an hour after Bryn, closer to lunch. Even during lunch, however, most soldiers don't eat in taverns or the like, and the place remains almost the same. The owner of the tavern might think it strange if Bryn sits there for hours, whether or not he orders anything.

The Sergeant shakes his head with a smile, amused by Bryn's salute. He is clearly enjoying himself during this visit to the barracks!

"I'll try not to die of boredom," he replies, hinting that the process is likely going to take quite a while.

Arren waits patiently as the clerks finish filling out the required forms, though he lets out a frustrated breath when he realizes the Bogie Burrow will probably remain unchanged for a long while yet. He imagines the exact two words Flêche would say if she were here, and cannot help but agree with her. Still, there is little he can do about it, and things would likely be worse if he had not filed a report at all. Who knows ...  perhaps one day someone higher up will notice the complaints about those caves and finally decide to do something.

As he prepares to leave the barracks and head back into the city, the Half-Elf pauses for one last look around. It seems he will not be visiting this place again for quite some time, and though he cannot say he will miss it (who misses work when given the chance for a long vacation? Probably only one person. Funnily enough, the very one being forced into that vacation) the thought still feels strange to him.

Granted, serving under the Commandants means he spends much of his time travelling and relatively little within these walls, but they still return here often enough that the place has become familiar.

With those thoughts lingering in his mind, he heads next to the Central Headquarters. The fact that Commandant Nattensbarn has not yet cleared her assigned room likely means she will return there soon enough, and so she should not miss the message.

Having taken care of all this, Arren finally makes his way toward the tavern. Not the usual hour for him to visit one, but then again, these are hardly usual times, with his Commandant soon to be relieved of her duties.