The otter did not respond immediately, and after a moment of awkward silence, Faint began to suspect she had led with the wrong foot. She began to utter an apology when one of the others in their group of misfits suddenly approached and thrust a glass into her hands. Faint blinked as the man, who introduced himself as Flick, took a seat and addressed her.

The rest of the group soon followed, spreading out over the bar. Faint winced as, no sooner had Flick suggested the group would need a miracle to get anywhere, the necromancer suggested gathering information from the dead. There had been cases mentioned in the newspaper of mutilated corpses being found, most likely the end results of these abductions. She glanced over her shoulder at the other patrons, expecting the comment to have drawn some unwanted attention, but if others were listening, they disguised it well. Necromancy may not have been outlawed in Forsaken as it had near everywhere else, but that did not mean people liked the idea of strangers disturbing the town’s dead. She herself was reluctant to make use of such methods, but she forced herself to think objectively. As Flick had pointed out, a normal investigation hadn’t produced any results so far.

She took a swig from her drink, hoping to hide her grimace, but the burn of alcohol did little to help in that regard. [i]A little early for this, I think.[/i] She put the glass down on the counter, gesturing at the waiter for some water. 

Finally, the Soot said his piece, finishing with introductions. Faint wondered at his insinuation. It seemed to her that he was suggesting someone in a position of power was involved in the recent happenings in Forsaken, but couldn’t guess what had given him that idea. Unless there was something he knew that she didn’t, she could only chalk it up to personal experience.

“It’s nice to meet you all. I’m Faint,” she told them. After a small pause, she added, “Of presence, not of heart, or at least that’s how it’s supposed to be.” She let out a self-deprecating chuckle at her quip. The bartender approached then, leaving another glass in front of her. She took it, but rather than drink, she settled for thoughtfully studying into the clear liquid. Rather than making merry with her new associates, her thoughts kept turning back to the job she had just accepted. She needed to know how to proceed, and that partly depended on what the people beside her decided to do.

“It’s not much,” Faint began calmly, thinking back to works of fiction she had read, and to times she had personally witnessed similar investigations, “but Mr. Garrick did leave us with some leads. According to him, his wife, Sarah, a woman likely to be in her fifties, was somehow abducted three weeks ago from the safety of their home. We know nothing of about motives, or method, but supposedly a maid says she heard something around the time Mrs. Garrick was taken. It might be worthwhile to visit so we can question the witness and examine scene of the crime.

“That said, three weeks is a long time. Assuming these disappearances are all connected, it would be better if we knew of a more recent one.” At that, a thought struck her, and she glanced at Nemo, or, more accurately, at his badge of office. “If we could get the authorities to share information with us, that would be ideal. Is that a real badge, Nemo? You might have an easier time approaching the guard than us. Might even be able to ask for permission to look at one of the deceased victims without getting ran out of town.” She gave the necromancer and his skeletal attendant a pointed look at that.

“Last, but not least,  there is supposedly a trail leading out to the wilderness out west where some of the victims’ belongings have been found. We might find something out there too, perhaps even something belonging to Mrs. Garrick. We have enough people that we could split up to chase down each lead separately, but at the same time, that’s not the reason Mr. Garrick gave for hiring a large group like this. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were people on the lookout for suspicious groups out west where those clues are.”

Having laid it all out to her satisfaction, Faint nodded to herself. “So, what are your thoughts? As far as I’m concerned, the quicker we manage to put this to rest, the better, but if we do split up, we still need to discuss who will go where, and where to meet up to share what we found after the fact.” At that, she glanced out to the door Abraham had used to make his exit. “I said I would stop by Mr. Garrick’s house later, so I would rather be there when the time comes to look into it.”