AlteredTundraCaptain Monroe
Town Hall - Central District - City of Telchar
Captain Monroe lounged in his wooden seat, with his derrière pressed against a hard-worked imprint in the leather cushion and his feet up resting on his desk. Very much a man of habit, it would be fair to say that it was his usual positioning in the office. Of course being a captain, he didn’t just spend his shifts sat around – if he wasn’t doing some sort of paperwork on his lap then he would be up and around the central district ensuring that everything was going smoothly.
“Captain Monroe, sir! We would like a word!” came an interruption from his office door. The captain's unpolished metal helmet turned to gaze upon the intruders and found four of his own men gathering around. He could see from their tensed up bodies and scowling faces that they were angry about something, which caused him to raise an inquisitive eyebrow.
“Yes Roberts, what is it?” Monroe replied his usual gruff voice, not bothering to sit up or otherwise move.
“We know all about the Special-Commanders! We all do! And we aint too pleased about it!” barked Roberts, the young but well-built private marched in front of Monroes desk and lent over in a futile attempt to intimidate his superior. Monroe’s eyes quickly glanced between each of his men before resting back on Roberts. He then gave an exaggerated shrug to show he had no idea what they were talking about. “Don’t play daft Captain! We know about these Special-Commanders, joining up the ranks pretending to be regular lads. Spying on us honest guards and taking notes of the things we do and say. Then, they pass their findings onto scum like you so you can fire us!”
Monroe sat for a few moments with his mouth slightly agape, surprised by what he was hearing. He had no idea where his men had gotten such a stupid idea planted in their heads, and he didn’t care – he would not be spoken to like that. Slowly taking his feet off his desk and taking a stand, Monroe got eye level with Roberts before delivering a nasty headbutt. There was a nice metallic ‘doink’ as Monroe’s helmet collided with the subordinate’s skull, who subsequently fell to the floor unconscious. The other men took a couple of steps back in shock.
“I don’t know what the fuck you silly cunts have been drinking, but you’re full of shite! There aint no such thing as a ‘special-commander’! If I want to fire one of you lot, I don’t need some underhanded reason to do so! I’ve worked with you all long enough to know what kinda useless crap you get up to; you forget I was one of you not too long back. Now if I catch anyone else spewing this nonsense or making a scene then you will be out of a job, and your only severance pay will be a couple of black eyes. Is that understood?” Monroe barked at the small group, spittle flying from his mouth. The men sheepishly nodded. “Good. Now then, take Roberts here back to his home and requisition any items belonging to the city guard that may be in his possession. I won’t have any of my own speak to me like he did! Once you’ve done that get back to work and stay out of my way.” And with that Monroe once again sat down, visibly fed up.
Only a few minutes seemed to pass before Monroe’s tranquillity once again disturbed. The almost simultaneous arrival of the two swordsmen and the dwarf caused him to let out a sigh. However impatience turned to relief as they made their intentions clear. For the first time that shift someone was coming to him with a solution instead of a new problem.
“I’ve got to say lads – I didn’t expect the contract to be taken up so quickly. But I’m glad it has.” Monroe adjusted his seating so that he was able to reach into one of his draws and take out the report. “Alisha Black was recently reported kidnapped by her father. He says that she was in their basement workshop when the wall caved-in. Recon’s he came down stairs just in time to see her dragged off into the sewers by drowners. It’s not the first report we’ve had of drowners in the sewers recently, so we might have an infestation – that’s why the bounty is so high. We’re offering 10 crowns if you’re able to prove that she’s dead but unrecoverable. 20 if you’re able to bring back her body. And 50 if you’re able to bring her back alive. Additionally, we’re willing to pay 6 crowns for every drowner head you bring us up to 200 crowns. If it turns out to only be one or two drowners, we’re not giving you 200. If you want to pursue this, then dive in to the next sewer entrance you see or go down to 23 Agard Street and let my boys know you want to investigate the scene. Any questions?”
