Brand, Gyrm, Karl, and Shoke had just left the Milk Bar when Karl got an urgent message from NRPD dispatch for some matters on which his attention was required. Left to their own devices Brand, Gyrm, and Shoke decided to continue the investigation by looking further into one of the suspected bodies: Erth Hardgloom.
First, the three decided to check out Factory 12 in Southtown Beach, where Erth worked as a crate loader/unloader on during the night shift. Conveniently, the night shift was just starting. Not wanting to stand out too much, the group went on a quick search for a clothing shop rather than waste time heading back into town to change. Most of the shops appeared to be closed except for one,
The Boar's Bowtie, which appeared to be a second-hand dress clothes shop. Well not completely closed, the proprietor appeared to be sweeping up inside and the door was locked. After some knocking and waving, the elderly half-elven-looking man unlocked the door asking if he could help them find something. The party mentioned that they were part of a "special group" named "SIDE" and needed to get some new matching outfits quickly for a performance. Intrigued by these strange late-night visitors Essem, the proprietor, let them in and showed them around.
Shoke and Gyrm eventually came up with some used but relatively nice garments:
- Shoke: purple vest, dark blue suit jacket with coat tails, light blue bowtie
- Gyrm: green vest, dark blue suit jacket with coat tails, white ascot
Meanwhile, Brand decided to "dress down" by removing all of his uniform in favor of his traditional monk garb ("definitely not a loin cloth"). After chatting with Essem for a while, the party was able to convince him they were looking to source matching outfits for the SIDE group, an up and coming jazz band of which they were members. Part excited to help some entrepreneurial young folk and part ready to close up shop for the night, Essem let them have the clothing for a low price of 2 gp each with the promise of more business in the purchase of outfits for the whole group.
Heading out in their new duds the three set off to find out where Factory 12 was located, though at this late hour there wasn't anyone around to ask for directions. Using their wits and knowledge of the city, they deduced that Southtown Beach must be South of Southtown and that the factories in the outer districts followed an incremental numbering system. Eventually they were able to find Factory 12, already bustling with night shift activity.
Using a distraction caused by Brand running directly into a crane and tumbling into some boxes, Gyrm snuck his way around the back of some crates and deftly carved away a section of the side to reveal their contents. Not sure whether or not to expect nefarious goods, he reached his hand in and pulled out a glass bottle labelled "
Cheerful Cherry Shampoo".
After making his way back to Shoke and Brand, the three were confronted by a gnome who asked them what business they had wandering around a work area at this time of night. Shoke flashed his badge to let him know they were undercover and looking into the disappearance of Erth Hardgloom that occurred several months ago. Understanding the situation, the man introduced himself as Hom Bergon, the night crew manager at Factory 12, and led them inside to his office. The officers took note of the work being done, the machines, and some posters advertising
Cheerful Cherry Shampoo other bathing products.
Once there, they asked to speak to a few of Erth's coworkers starting with Jeremy Dovrami, the one who had reported him missing.
Jeremy Dovrami.
Jeremy was young, about mid-to-late twenties, and seemed a bit nervous when faced down by the imposing presences of Brand, Gyrm, and Shoke. The team made some attempts at making Jeremy comfortable, joking and trying to convince him they were "cool cops" from a "special division" and wouldn't turn him in if he wanted to report anything suspicious. These landed with mixed success, but ultimately they determined Jeremy was likely just nervous from the circumstance of being interrogated by three NRPD officers in a small office at work.
As for what they learned: Jeremy is a fellow crate loader. He and Erth sometime hung out after work at the Milk Bar with another coworker, Fin Custo. Erth was a nice guy around the same age as Jeremy, he never skipped work. When Erth didn't return to work after a couple days and didn't seem to be at home, Jeremy had gone to a local NRPD precinct to report him missing. There was a girl that came around sometimes, named Kem Kardis, it seemed like they were maybe dating but Jeremy only met her in passing and never saw her after Erth disappeared.
The officers thanked Jeremy for his information and asked him to send in Fin Custo.
Fin Custo.
In contrast with Jeremy, Fin greeted the cops calmly and coolly. He seemed much more comfortable and composed. Jumping right into questioning, most of the information they learned was much the same as with Jeremy. Erth was a good guy, never late or anything and seemed to have a girl he was seeing named Kem. They hung out sometimes at the Milk Bar but not too much outside of that or breaks at work.
The officers also learned a bit about Fin himself when Shoke commented on him being a bit more white-collar than who they'd expect to be working the night shift at a factory. Fin thanked them, flattered, mentioning he's in his early thirties and graduated from RUGL with a political science degree. He tried it out for a few years but eventually started to burn out. Exhausted by the the slog of bureaucracy and politics, he decided to return to his roots and pursue a more modest and habitual career. He's been working here for almost 3 years now and has never been happier.
Wrapping up with Fin, the officers asked him to send Hom Bergon back in.
Hom Bergon.
After some not-so-well-veiled jokes about his name, the officers asked some follow up questions of Erth's prior manager. In a similar vein to the other interviews, Erth was a good kid. Never really early or late, not underperforming and not incredibly exceptional. All around normal young kid.
Questioned about the general demographic for his employees: people tend to stay for 1-2 years. Crate loading/unloading is a necessary role but not something with much advancement or career potential, and tends to attract either a younger crowd without much prior work history or those down on their luck and looking for work. Finally they got Erth's home address, thanked Hom for his time, and headed out into the night toward 86 Sandlot Ave in Southtown.
Erth's home was a modest, one floor condo on the southeast-end of Southtown. The front door was locked so Shoke immediately whipped out his portable ram from his HLSTR. Not wanting to make a ruckus at this late hour, Brand pleaded with him to wait until they'd scouted out the other entrances to make sure there wasn't a better way in. Brand went to scope out the perimeter, noting the windows were barred like other houses in the neighborhood and there wasn't an obvious back entrance. Before he made it back, he heard a loud
THUNK from the front of the house, returning to find the lock slightly caved in and Shoke going in for another blow with Gyrm egging him on. After another hit and a shove, and some lights turning on in nearby houses, the three made it inside and blocked the door closed behind them.
The interior of the house was relatively spartan, seemingly just a place to sleep, eat, and wash rather than a well lived-in home. The officers searched around a bit and found a couple things of note to take back with them to their headquarters:
- A stack of papers, including what looked like a poster for a recent concert at a club called The Nest
- A locked lockbox which, when shaken, sounded like some hard bits thudding and some shuffling
Brand, Gyrm, and Shoke finally decided to pack it in for the night, returning to the NRPD headquarters to look for a way to get the lockbox open. They were greeted by Mindy, the night shift receptionist, who mentioned that Officer Turk was generally the go-to for getting locked evidence open but he wouldn't be in until the morning. Gyrm mentioned he was on thin ice with Turk already so they probably shouldn't try and wake him up over this since it wasn't urgent.
They headed up to their office to leave the lockbox and noticed a note from Captain Stagette to Sergeant Hendricks stating he had a new mission for them and another item to discuss in the morning.
