[IC] Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

[Muttonhawk]

There was a pause for contemplation by Darahil. He only reacted with a blink to the information that the waterskin was poisoned, but his eyes gave away the information processing. "I will allow you to see the rune, yes," he confirmed, nodding. "As for Jerrick's waterskin, as I said, the only three times I saw him was in the main chamber, at the meeting, and out on the mezzanine. It was only in the meeting that I saw him with his waterskin. It was on the table the entire time. I believe he forgot to pick it up on his way out. In the time I saw him during his class, he had nothing on his person at all due to recently transforming." Darahil spoke without a hint of emotion, but he took on a curious tone and angled his head as he continued. "You suspect the poison may have been administered at those times?"

[EliteCommander]

Meesei gave no reaction to Darahil's question until she finished jotting down the last of her notes for Darahil's interview. Once finished, she looked up at him with a neutral expression. "He filled his waterskin from the city's water source, and it would be exceptionally difficult to poison a flowing body of water that large. And, if it had been, others would have been affected as well. It would had to have been poisoned at a time when he wasn't carrying it on his belt, and when his attention was somewhere else. Once I have finished my questioning, and once I know more about the poison, I may be able to eliminate one or more suspects. Until then, thank you for your cooperation. Now, come, I will send one of my pack with you to the meeting room." Just like before, after Meesei stepped back out with, she turned to one of the remaining members of her pack. "Fendros, please take Darahil to the meeting room." She requested, though this time, she waited for Fendros to start to walk past her, then stopped him with a hand on his shoulder and whispered in his ear. "Watch to see if he tampers with anything in the room." She said quickly before letting go of him and turning her attention to Harriet, motioning for her to head into the room for the final interview. Since Fendros was going to be watching Darahil, that meant Lorag would be watching Harriet. Initially, Meesei thought it would not be a good idea to have him be responsible for him, given that they had been caught mating. However, the more Meesei thought on it, the more she felt that could be turned to their advantage. It was possible that Harriet could be made to trust Lorag to gain more cooperation from her. Alternatively, if she was the traitor, she might start to think that she could manipulate Lorag. However, she would not be aware of the depth of Lorag's loyalty to Meesei. Once Meesei and Harriet took their seats in the private room, Meesei made a new section in her notes, then started off the questioning. "Okay, let us start at the beginning. In as much detail as you can, tell me everything you have done today, and when. I need to know every time in which you saw Jerrick, and as well, I would like to know everything you can remember that your fellow lieutenants have done."

[Muttonhawk]

The walk to the meeting chamber with Darahil made Fendros rather tense. From what he had observed so far, Darahil was probably the least likely to make trouble, but he was still an old mage. That made him unpredictable in terms of power. "How long have you been with the champion's pack, Fendros?" Darahil asked suddenly, but still quietly enough to not wake anyone up. He didn't face Fendros directly. Fendros was surprised to be addressed by his given name by the Altmer, despite that he was not only a Dunmer, but a young one at that. "Be quiet, you'll wake people up," Fendros responded, still not trusting him completely. "Mustn't have been for long, then," Darahil said. He dropped the issue. They reached the meeting room to only find Janius and Oswall. Fendros was the first to speak. "Where are Ahna and Vera?" "With Jerrick's body. We moved him to a cold chamber." Janius explained. Darahil eyed Oswall's pallor and clenched jaw for a few moments. "Oswall," Darahil said, "So it's true?" Oswall looked angrily up at Darahil and nodded. Over in the chamber with Jerrick's body, the cold was slowly debilitating Vera. She had dropped to a kneeling position next to the slab that held Jerrick and was shivering as well as sobbing. The air needed to be cold to preserve the body, but Vera needed to be encouraged to move if she and Ahnasha did not want to freeze to death. Harriet's shoulders were hunched and her arms crossed where she sat opposite Meesei. She looked up at her from her bowed head with a glare. "Let me just make one thing clear, Meesei. I ain't stupid. I know this is something Jerrick would do to test loyalties or something, but even he knows that I ain't gonna kill him. Now, let's start." Harriet leaned her head back enough that she was less threatening. Her tone spoke of her recount as if it were a chore, "This morning, I was awake before any of my packs. I went around and gave them a soft kick in the sides to get them up and we took a drill out in the fresh mountain air. The drills and the jog took us all through the morning. Only one fella passed out, but he was new. Someone carried him back. When I came back, it was time for the meeting. The elf had come back from his spelunking, Oswall was loud as ever, Jerrick and Vera were the same as always as well. I dunno what they all did in the morning. I think Oswall and Jerrick normally run training of some kind, Vera does some teaching. Anyway, everything discussed at the meeting was fairly routine, except for your pack turning up, that was new. Once the meeting was done, I knew I had to see what you guys were made of, so I went up to the big boy, Lorag, and gave him a run for his money. Turns out he ain't bad in the arena. After getting beaten while going easy on 'im, I went to the forge to make up for lost time sharpening my sword. Didn't see the others until dinner. Jerrick wasn't there for some reason, figured he had other business. After that, I gave Lorag another visit. You can work out the rest for yourself. Can't say what everyone else did that afternoon or evening. I wasn't payin' much attention."

[EliteCommander]

Ahnasha wanted to give Vera as much time as she needed, but she was already shivering from the cold mountain air flowing in from above. She had herself wrapped in a fur blanket that she had thought to grab from one of the rooms on the way over to serve as a covering for Jerrick's body, but even so, they needed to get going. Once enough time had passed that it seemed like Vera was not going to move on her own, Ahnasha unwrapped the blanket from around herself and held it under her arm as she approached Vera and lightly placed a hand on her shoulder. "Vera...we should get back to the meeting room. I know...I know there isn't much I can say. Jerrick, he gave his life for the clan, for everyone in it, and for you. He would want us to do everything we can to preserve it." "I wish you were right in your guess, but Jerrick did not survive, despite our preparation. After we are done here, you may go to see the body for yourself. Now, I just have a few more questions for you. For the first, I would like to know what route you took to the meeting room. Did you pass through the main chamber, or go a different way? For the second, I need to know if you remember seeing Jerrick's waterskin. We know that was the vector through which he was poisoned, so we need to find out when he was separated from it. Can you recall a point where you saw him without it?" Meesei asked.

[Muttonhawk]

Vera seemed receptive enough to Ahnasha's words to nod and slowly get up. When she turned around, her face was still puffy and glistening from her tears. She seemed aimless enough at first that she needed Ahnasha's hand still on her shoulder to guide her, but her coordination improved as she warmed up further into the hideout. They got back to the meeting room without another word said. When they arrived, Vera glanced to both Oswall and Darahil with worry and mistrust. Harriet was unconvinced. "Yeah, yeah, I'll go and see the body and Jerrick will be there to say 'surprise!'" Harriet raised both her hands in mocking imitation, then crossed them again, "Well guess what, it ain't a surprise, and it ain't funny." Harriet exhaled sharply, and then took another breath to answer Meesei's questions. "Well I came in through the front entrance, so it's not like I could have avoided the main chamber unless I climbed up to the sentry posts. I don't think the lookouts would have appreciated that. And Jerrick's waterskin? It was on the table during the meeting, that's all I remember seeing of it."

[EliteCommander]

Meesei finished off the last of her notes for her initial questioning, then tucked them away in her bag. She had a few lines of questioning she could pursue later, and hopefully, one that could lead to the killer, or at least eliminate suspects. "Thank you. I will likely need to ask more of you later, but for now, that is all I need. I will send Lorag with you to the meeting room. You can ask the others where Jerrick's body has been moved to." Meesei stepped back out of the room and nodded to Lorag. Given how many times she had voiced the same order, she did not need to say it again for Lorag to understand what he was meant to do. He waited for Harriet to step out into the room as well, then walked with her towards the meeting room. Despite what had happened between them, Lorag was as alert as a guard escorting a prisoner, though he at least managed not to show it. Before Meesei could join the lieutenants in the meeting room, she needed to return to their room to see what Sabine had discovered, but first, she waited for Lorag and Harriet to leave, then approached Najirra. "This situation is terrible in every way. It is not what I hoped to find when we set out to come here, but it is the situation we are in. Jerrick entrusted me with protecting his clan from tearing itself apart, and I will do everything I can to fulfill that responsibility, but I am still new to this place, and these people. Do you have any advice you can give me, Najirra?"

[Muttonhawk]

Harriet was impatient to get up and go, even if her face seemed uncaring. "I can already see his smug look. I wonder who the traitor is?" The walk through the halls to the meeting room had Harriet glancing to Lorag every so often. About halfway there, Harriet asked quietly. "So what do you make of all this, big boy? Not exactly the best welcome for you guys, huh." Najirra was still sitting patiently when Meesei approached him for advice. He gave a warm smile and a slow nod."It is true, champion. You have been laden with a heavy burden with little warning." His voice was collected and consistent, with a slight accent, but somehow still soothing, "I cannot say for sure who I believe to be Jerrick's killer, but I can tell you some things of this clan." He gestured for Meesei to sit down on a nearby crate, "Come, seat yourself. My daughters will be back soon." Najirra raised his cup to his lips and finished the last of his tea before setting the implements aside at a ponderous geriatric pace. "Now, what you must know of this clan is that we are small, barely the size of a village, but the different packs will follow their lieutenants unquestioningly unless you are able to sway them. If you pick any one of the lieutenants as the culprit, you will have at least a quarter of the packs hostile towards you. This is of course better than the entire clan splintering apart, but it does not help matters. I believe your challenge in keeping the pack together will not be finding the traitor, so much as winning over those still loyal to Hircine. I would suggest, once you are certain who killed young Jerrick, that you hold a trial so that the accused may defend them self fairly. The public may witness his or her wrongdoings, and will ultimately be on the side of justice. With little enough room for misinformation, the clan will follow your decision as a whole." Najirra kept his smile, but angled his head in warning, "Beware, though, you are still an outsider to many here. You must not stand as the judge, else your decision will not be respected wholly." There was a moment for Meesei to respond before a number soft footsteps could be heard approaching the chamber, heralding the return of Najirra's daughters with Jerrick's entrusted.

[EliteCommander]

Lorag shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, all this isn't really my territory. I'm not some 'investigator,' I'm a warrior. I'll just do what the Alpha says. Trust me, she can handle it. She's smart, very smart. Trained from birth, or hatching, or whatever to be a leader and shaman and all that. If it's you, I'd be very afraid." He commented, though his tone was not necessarily accusatory, but more matter-of-fact. "She'll find who did it, and she'll have 'em killed. Well, unless they confess or somethin'. She's more into mercy than me." Meesei nodded in understanding. She was not entirely unfamiliar with the concepts of politics and public opinion, but it was not something she had been forced to deal with for some time. Certainly, the situation was delicate, and she needed to act with care and precision. Jerrick's warning was clear on what could happen, so she was going to need to take precautions. "I understand. I do hope my investigation yields enough evidence to make the traitor clear. Jerrick warned that if the clan is in chaos next week, during the full moons, it could be torn apart, so I intend to avoid that altogether. If word does not get out that Jerrick has been killed, then there will be no chaos, and the moons will pass with no issue. No matter how strong of evidence I find, I do not intend for this trial to be held until after the full moons. It should not be difficult to create a plausible explanation for Jerrick's absence. I do not wish to lie to the people, but it is better than the alternative. We may be able to simply start the rumor that he is away on some mission without me having to say anything on the subject, so it will not be attributed to me. In any event, as for the trial itself, if I am not appropriate to act as judge, then who would you believe the clan will find impartial?" She asked shortly before she heard footsteps approaching from down the hall.

[Muttonhawk]

Harriet let out a guffaw that bordered on being loud enough to wake up those around her. "I don't doubt that. The champion's gotta have something going for her, right?" She raised an eyebrow at Lorag, "You regard her pretty highly, don't ya?" The pair's proximity to the meeting room door didn't leave much time for discussion. "That's understandable, she's your alpha and all that." With the next few steps, all the lieutenants were once again united in the same chamber. Fendros had decided to stay leaning up against the wall next to the main door with his arms crossed, while Janius remained standing nearby the table in the centre. The three lieutenants already in the room were sitting around the table in their usual seats, but were dead silent and staring at the wood grain. Vera still had tears streaking down her face, but was not sobbing for now. The other two looked up as Harriet approached and took her seat. "So, where's the joker now?" Harriet asked nonchalantly. The others collectively shot her a disdainful look. "What?" She asked. Oswall obliged with venom in his answer, "I saw his body, Harriet, so did Vera. Do not lash your jests at such a time as this." Harriet became rather more suspicious, turning her head slightly, then looking to Darahil. "And you?" "I was going to wait for you to accompany seeing his corpse to save time," Darahil said. For a short while, Harriet contemplated silently, and then shook her head and sighed. She stood up from her chair to face Lorag. "Alright, this is getting weird. Let me see him." Janius stood up straighter and spoke to Harriet, Lorag, and Darahil. "I'll lead you there. Let's go, Lorag." Meanwhile, in Najirra's chamber, the old Khajiit rubbed at the bottom of his chin in thought. "Hmm, you raise good thoughts. If any decision is to be protracted, then leaving a trial until after the full moons may be preferable." Najirra waved his hand out in front of him, "However, keeping the secret will be difficult when all your suspects know the truth, including the one who's motive may yet be the clan's destruction after all. Keeping them confined from their duties may also cause difficulties in the long run. No, this one believes you must be decisive and hold a trial for the sake of proof more than argument, if you can. You may yet have the time. It is not likely to be as bogged down in laws and time-wasting like a trial in the courts of cities." Najirra paused for a lengthy breath, "As for possible judges, some may be approaching now." As if having timed his response perfectly, Najirra gestured to the portal to his chamber as three figures filed through in front of the twins, Saraya and Vharei. The first was a bald, old, bearded, greying Orc man that could be recognised as the one in charge of rations; the caretaker, Grolak. The second was a blonde, pony-tailed Bosmer of indeterminate age, but with eyes that spoke of experience. The third was barely taller than the Bosmer, but was a Redguard. As he came into the light, he looked no older than Sabine. His expression was one of fear coupled with the fatigue from being woken up at such a time. Each of the newcomers had a scroll of parchment in their hands. "We found them for you, champion," one of the twins said. Najirra smiled his comforting smile and motioned to his daughters. "Thank you, my dears. Now, I need you to find another place to sleep, as this matter is a sensitive one. Sleep well." Saraya and Vharei nodded in unison, collected their blankets, and then went on their way.

[EliteCommander]

"I think highly of her 'cause she deserves it." Lorag commented just before they reached the meeting room. From a quick look around, it was obvious the body had already been moved. The mood was gloom among most of the others, though Lorag was still just as alert. It would be stupid for the traitor to try anything at the moment, but then again, it was stupid for them to murder Jerrick. The other lieutenants were quick to confirm Jerrick's death to Harriet, not that it made her any less stubborn. Once Janius offered to take them to the body, Lorag gave him a serious glare. "Stick with your charge, Janius. Just tell us where it is, these two know their way around. Me and Fendros'll go with 'em." Najirra's advice was sound, and Meesei would certainly heed it if the situation arose. She did have an idea for how to keep Jerrick's death secret, but his daughters arrived before she could respond, and along with them, the recipients of Jerrick's letters. Meesei waited quietly until Najirra sent his daughters away, then stood up and stepped forward in front of them. "Greetings, my name is Meesei, Hircine's Champion. I...wish we were meeting here under better circumstances. I need to be clear that everything we say here needs to be kept secret from anyone outside this room. Nothing about this, or the letters you received, needs to be repeated to anyone else. Now, before we begin, I would like to know what you already know about the situation? I do not know the contents of the letters Jerrick sent you." Meesei asked.

[Muttonhawk]

Janius had no issue with Lorag's orders. As soon as the route to Jerrick's body was explained, Harriet and Darahil were lead down to the cold chamber, leaving Vera and Oswall quiet in the meeting room again. Grolak was the first referee to step forward, looking grumpy and gruff from being woken up, but then again, he always looked grumpy and gruff. He slapped down his letter flat onto a crate with his open palm, revealing the words in the dim light. "Should'a figured Vile would aim straight for the top," he sneered with his other fist clenched, "It's hard to imagine that one of the lieutenants would try to kill 'im, but everyone knows me here, I'm the guy who takes care of rations. The name's Grolak, and I'll help however I can." The Bosmer stepped up next. She took a more level approach than Grolak, but came off as slightly cold. "My name is Caldris, I am the head bowyer," the short elf nodded respectively and unrolled her letter. "I will observe the situation from Jerrick's perspective, but I will judge for myself how this plays out." Finally, everyone's attention was turned to the Redguard boy. He was staring at the floor, but only gave a glance up to Meesei and the others. Najirra beckoned him forward, "Come Caleb, introduce yourself to the champion. She is here to help." Caleb took a breath and a step forward. He looked up at Meesei with a worried brow. "Is father okay? He wrote that he was in danger. What's happened tonight? Where's mother?" He asked frantically. He faced Najirra with the same expression, demanding answers. Upon inspection, each of the letters that the referees held opened up with a unique passage about their position in the clan and why they were trustworthy, and a recollection of an anecdote that proved that it was indeed Jerrick writing the letter. It then went on to tell them roughly what Meesei had been told by Jerrick when they had their secret meeting, along with the rough plans for the night. The other two referees at least appeared to be in a position of neutrality amongst the clan's pack structure, but Caleb's letter was unique in that the reason that he was deemed trustworthy was his previous instruction on how to treat the greater good of the clan as a whole. He was too young to lead the clan yet, but Jerrick had apparently been grooming him to take his place. He at least had enough confidence in his son to help in this situation, even if it might be an unfair burden.

[EliteCommander]

Both Fendros and Lorag stuck with the two lieutenants, though they were the ones who had to lead the way based on Janius' directions. Luckily, they were lead straight to the room in an unused portion of the city. The chamber door was unlocked, though it looked as if it could be locked if they could get a way to unlock it. Stepping inside, Lorag immediately noticed the cold, which, while it was perfect for preserving the body, was not something he was exactly dressed for. As such, he preferred they keep it brief. Lorag walked up to what he assumed to be Jerrick's corpse, a guess that was confirmed when he lifted back part of the fur blanket over his head. Looking at the body, he shook his head lightly and sighed. "You believe it now, Harriet?" Meesei lowered her head as she glanced through the letters, particularly Caleb's. She had not been aware that Jerrick and Vera had a child, and he was certainly not going to take the news well. "You are...his son." She commented, closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath before continuing. "As your letters indicated, Jerrick received a warning about this night, that he would be murdered by one of his lieutenants. He told me of this, and we prepared an ambush to attempt to save his life, but...the attack never came. Jerrick was poisoned through the waterskin he had been carrying all day. He...did not make it. I have confronted the lieutenants and assigned one of my pack to watch each of them. Outside of the people in this room, only my pack and the lieutenants are aware of Jerrick's death. He named all of you as trustworthy, and in finding and sentencing the traitor, I will need your help." Meesei explained, her tone solemn.

[Muttonhawk]

Darahil and Harriet's reactions to seeing Jerrick's corpse were similar, but subtly different. They were both silent and kept a stoic expression. Darahil crossed his arms and closed his eyes, turning to leave after a short while. Harriet's eyes, on the other hand, seemed to widen slightly through her hard face. She spent a little more time staring at Jerrick, but didn't waste much time before turning as well. "Yeah, I believe it," she said quietly without looking at Lorag. At first, Caleb's face spoke of utter disbelief. As the reality of the situation sank in, he slowly lowered his head and stepped back until he found a wall, upon which he slid down and covered his face with his hands. The others in the room looked at him, but didn't say a word, even in response to Meesei. Caleb wasn't loud, he barely made any sounds at all. He tried as best as he could to hide his feelings, but they were piling up behind his hands such that they were all that were left to hide them. Najirra carefully stood up from his seat and shuffled over to Caleb with a sympathetic expression. Shaking despite his walking stick, Najirra knelt down by the boy and placed a hand on his shoulder. "This is a sad time, Caleb. To lose your father is a horrible experience. However, he has entrusted you with an important task. A very important task. For the sake of his memory, you must save your tears for the funeral. You may grieve for him as much as you need, but he needs you to do this first. What say you, child?" "But he's...he's dead." Caleb's muffled response was meek. "I don't...what...how could..." Najirra squeezed Caleb's shoulder comfortingly. "Take some time, it's okay. Remember what he taught you about the greater good of this home." It took a few minutes for Caleb to eventually compose himself. It appeared as though he was at least receptive to what Najirra said. He still hung his head and looked distraught, but he was listening now. The Bosmer, Caldris, cleared her throat and resumed the original topic. "What would you have us do, Champion?"

[EliteCommander]

Meesei remained patient as she allowed Caleb the time to collect himself. Najirra's words helped, but the news of his father's death was not easy to hear. Meesei had already seen Vera's reaction, and Caleb's carried no less pain. If it were possible, Meesei would have given both of them as much time as they needed to come to terms with what happened, but sadly, the situation was forcing that they make haste in their investigation. Upon, Caldris' question, Meesei pulled out her book of notes once more and started to review them. "Unfortunately, that is not an easy question to answer right now. This has all happened in only the last few hours, and my investigation has just begun. As I said, we do know how Jerrick was killed. His waterskin was poisoned, which means the traitor had to be able to get a hold of it while he was separated from it, as the source could not have been poisoned without killing anyone else who drank from it. I have questioned the lieutenants and have identified two possible times it could have been poisoned: during Jerrick's morning lesson in the main chamber when he transformed for a demonstration, and later in the meeting room, when he stepped out and forgot the waterskin inside. Since you all are unknown to the lieutenants, you could potentially gain evidence secretly. As well, I will also need a judge or judges for the traitor's trial, someone who would be known to be impartial between the lieutenants."

[Muttonhawk]

Grolak and Caldris looked at each other, then went back to Meesei. "I can be a judge," they said in unison unintentionally, causing them to look at each other again. "Everyone knows me," Grolak said, pointing his thumb to his chest, "I don't give anyone a break on rations, I sure as oblivion won't give any of the lieutenants leniency about this." Caldris crossed her arms, "Everyone knows me, too. I'll fix anyone's bow or make new ones for them, but I'm not particularly fond of any of the lieutenants." Seeing a potentially rash situation arising, Najirra stepped up and attempted to calm everyone with a motion downwards with his palm. "Now then, it is important that anyone selected to be a judge must have clear judgement, without a conflict of agendas." Najirra faced Meesei in particular, "If anyone is to be selected now, they must not be allowed to assist you in investigation." "Huh. Well I wanna help find Jerrick's killer, so that rules me out," Grolak declared, "Say, Najirra, you tend to stay out of this stuff anyway. Why don't you be a judge? Everyone trusts you." Najirra let out a chuckle and shook his head, "I am not sure whether that would be a good idea. I like to assist people, but getting involved like this is against my usual nature." "Grolak does have a point, Najirra." Caldris added flatly, "Everyone trusts your wisdom, even myself. You are already involved at this point. I can think of no better judge." She faced Meesei, "What do you think, champion?"

[EliteCommander]

Listening to the others discuss who should serve as judge, Meesei's mind started to side with Grolak and Caldris. Najirra was, by everything she had heard, very well respected among the clan. And, unlike the others, he was not in a good enough condition to do any investigating himself. He would make for a good choice. After all, Jerrick did select him as the one who was trustworthy and influential enough to prove Meesei's own innocence. "I believe they are right, Najirra." Meesei answered. "Think of what a judge is supposed to be. It is a person who is largely uninvolved, and unbiased up to the point when it is time to hear the evidence. You know of the situation, but you have not actually done any investigating; you did not hear me question them. For most, when they think of an ideal judge, it is someone fair, someone old and wise with the experience to back their decisions. It is someone they respect. You fit all of those criteria. If you were to serve as judge, I believe that would have the best chance of convincing everyone of the fairness of the trial, and help them accept its outcome. From my understanding, you do tend to stay out of clan politics, but that is why I believe you are ideal for the position. If people see you stepping out of your room for the first time in their memory, they will know the trial is serious. They know you have no motive for power or influence, so they will trust your word."

[Muttonhawk]

"This one...understands," Najirra said with an uncertain raised brow, "It has been a long time since I will have wandered about the halls and amongst the packs. Hmm." Najirra looked to each of them with more conviction, "This one will do his utmost for this home." "Sounds like a plan," Grolak said with a grin. Caldris nodded as well, in as much thanks as she would muster. "Champion," Caleb had been quiet, but looked up to Meesei's eyes with a new motivation. "I want to help. How do we find out who poisoned by father?"

[EliteCommander]

It was good to hear that Najirra was willing to serve as judge, though Meesei was not expecting any less. As for Caleb's question, however, she had to pause and think. She had an idea of what she would do next, but she still felt she needed to learn more before she could come up with specific tasks for the others. "That is...difficult to say right now. As I said, I have only just begun my investigation. My knowledge of the day so far is limited to only what I have seen, and their testimonies. Granted, only one of them has a motive to lie, which is why I believe anything that at least two of them says can be trusted. From what they have said, I have identified two points where he could have been poisoned: during Jerrick's morning lesson, and when he stepped away from the meeting. After we are done here, I am going to speak to one of my pack who is examining the poison. Once she identifies it, she will likely be able to tell us how long it would have taken for the poison to kill him, which will narrow our search. Until then, I suppose one thing you could do would be to see if you can learn more about Jerrick and the lieutenants' movements during the day. They gave me their perspectives, but I am sure there were others who saw them. You just have to be sure not to reveal what has happened in your investigations. You have to keep your conversations natural, or come up with a good reason for direct questions. An advantage I have is that it is widely known that I am here to bolster our defenses against attack or infiltration, so I can get away with questions that would be otherwise suspicious. You may need to be creative. Your advantage is that the lieutenants do not know who you are, so the traitor will not be as highly guarded with you as myself or one of my pack. I may have more specific tasks for you once I learn more information, but until then, learn what you can. And of course, if any of you have saw Jerrick or the lieutenants today, I would like to hear your perspectives." Meesei explained.

[Muttonhawk]

"Right," Caleb responded at once, "I can ask around. I was mostly sparring and training this morning, so I didn't see any of them after breakfast." Caleb's eyes lit up and looked at Meesei directly, "I did see them all come out of the meeting room during lunch. That's something, right? And then Harriet challenged Lorag to a fight. I watched that. After that, I think they were all busy until dinner." "I can back the kid up about them leaving the meeting room and attending meals," Grolak added, "Didn't see 'em otherwise. I was busy." Caldris faced Meesei and nodded in agreement. "So was I. On watch for half the day, crafting in the other half. I might know a few people that could have more information on the lieutenant's movements. I will inquire with them tomorrow." "Yeah, me too. Let us know if you need anything else," Grolak said, leaving his grumpy demeanour behind for being refreshingly determined. There was a pause where Najirra placed both his hands over the top of his walking stick and leaned forward with a quizzical look. "I just have one more question before you go on your way, Champion. What do you intend to do about the lieutenants while you investigate?"

[EliteCommander]

It did not seem as if the three had seen anything of importance regarding the lieutenants, or at least nothing new. However, they could still be quite helpful in the investigation if Meesei needed someone not affiliated with her for any task. As for Najirra's question, she did actually have a solid answer. "For the moment, each of the lieutenants are being watched by one of my pack, and I intend to keep it that way. It would be far too suspicious if all of the lieutenants suddenly retreated from the public eye, so they need to go about their duties as normal. However, with my pack assigned to them, we can be assured that the traitor is being watched at all times. If the traitor wanted to reveal what happened, my pack will make it much more difficult. For the safety of my packmates, I will also advise to them that the lieutenants share a room, so someone can keep watch at all times in the night. It is fortunate that I have already publicly declared that I am here to help strengthen the clan against Vile's followers, as I can reasonably justify these actions with that. I do not wish to panic the clan, so I will not say I have found evidence of infiltration, but I can say that I am assigning my packmates as bodyguards as a precaution until I have investigated further. If I can get the lieutenants to cooperate, I may also have them teach my pack about the specific aspects of the clan that they oversee to give my assignment of them to the lieutenants more of an apparent purpose. Hopefully, these measures will prevent the traitor from causing any further damage." Meesei explained. After pausing a moment, Meesei had another thought which prompted her to shift her attention back to Caleb, Caldris, and Grolak. "Also, if anyone happens to ask you about Jerrick, subtly suggest that you believe he has gone to Bruma, or another surrounding village, on important business for the clan. Intentionally express uncertainty as to his exact destination. Say that you heard it from someone else, or perhaps overheard it. If word gets around that he is on a mission, it will offer an explanation for where he is without me, or one of the lieutenants, having to say anything."