[color=A0A0A0][h2]Fleuri Jodeau[/h2][/color]

"There's definitely something very strange that happened here, Fleuri spoke to Gerard while accepting the note from the well-mannered mercenary.  He didn't recognize the name "Abigail the Stingray", but he did notice the similarity of her name to her leader.  Were there any other mercs in the band named after aquatic animals, he wondered, or was it unique to the two of them?  It wasn't really any of Fleuri's business, but way Abigail spoke of Alette implied sounded like they were lovers.  All the more reason that the Reonite knight hoped that the others would not set Alette off.

[i]Find a black shard in the fort, don't touch it, kill anyone who interferes...is this black shard what caused the soldiers to go mad?  Hold on...surely it couldn't be...[/i]  Fleuri's eyes widened as a most dreadful possibility dawned on him.  Having been educated by Reonites and mentored in the ways of knighthood by a paladin, he was familiar with the tale of Orodrunn, and the dark lord's shattered weapon Angroron.   Fleuri hoped that there was another explanation- any explanation- but only something of incredible evil power could cause an entire garrison of loyal soldiers to kill one each other in a fit of murderous insanity.  Also alarming to him was the notion that at least two groups knew about the shard before the Iron Roses did.

"By the goddesses...could one of the shards of Angroron really be here?" he asked in horror.  "We'll help you locate this thing, Lady Abigail," he offered, turning his head towards Gerard as if to "volunteer" him.

"I don't know how much you and your fellow mercenaries have searched this place, but I'd like to take a look at the commanding officer's quarters," he spoke to Abigail.  "If a strange artifact passed into the fort, whoever was in charge might have had a log or record or journal mentioning it.  It could have been stashed away in whatever passes for storage, or it could simply be in a chest in the barracks, hidden away by a greedy, maddened, or malevolently-intentioned soldier.  Assuming, of course, someone didn't leave with it before the other mercenaries got here."

There was still the problem of who got the shard when they found it; the mercenaries wouldn't want to fail their employer, whoever it was, but the Iron Roses surely couldn't let some anonymously-hired soldiers of fortune to walk off with such a dangerous and evil artifact.  Nevertheless, the potential danger posed by this shard- particularly the unsettling possibility that it could affect them if they were here too long- made it seem prudent to focus on locating it now and worrying about who gets it later.

[@HereComesTheSnow]