Fantasy Cursed Island

[Darkling0096]

"Hmmph," Siege crossed her arms as she glared at Nidia, "This better not last very long."



Turac and Jalin followed after Roy to the throne room. "We have heard of the theft," Jalin spoke up after pleasantries, "We would like to offer aid in the search."

 

[Fangs9090]

Nidia put her ears back. "I'm sorry! Please don't look at me like that!~"

Emilia spoke up. "Siege, you're making her emotional."



Fitzroy, standing near his father, dipped his head. "Thank you. I would be leading this search myself, but my duties mean I can't devote so much time this."

 

[Darkling0096]

"Oh, I'm making her emotional?", Siege snapped, "Look at me! I had plans! Now I'm stuck with her for... however long hers lasts!" She punched the stone wall in her frustration and nearly broke her fist in the process. "I was gonna get with a prince, dammit! Gods, why can't anyone in this group have some common sense?", she stomped off to the girls' room and slammed the door behind her. She was already under the influence, it wasn't like avoiding the pheromones would do anything for her now.



"If it would not be intrusive," Turac said, "Jalin here has a potent sense of smell, I have seen him rival a bloodhound." Exaggeration on Turac's part, but he didn't think it would be by much, "Perhaps he may be able to track the thief from where they stole the heirloom?"

 

[Fangs9090]

Nidia flinched as the door slammed. They both decided to leave her be for now.



The king nodded. "If you think you can find something, by all means."

Fitzroy spoke up. "It was stolen from my room. The thief managed to get in and out without waking me, somehow."

"We must rethink our security. We were lucky it was only a thief..."

 

[Darkling0096]

"Perhaps in the future," Jalin offered, "You might find a more secure storage location for so valuable an object than your bedchambers?"

"If you would show us to your chambers, we will begin our search promtly," Turac nodded.

 

[Fangs9090]

Fitzroy nodded and began leading the way. "I normally keep it on my person. I only set it down to sleep."

 

[Darkling0096]

"Perhaps you might commission an enchanted safe for your chambers to keep your valuables in?", Jalin offered.

"What is it that makes this stone so significant, anyway?", Turac asked, "If it's just a blue stone, you can replace it easily."

 

[Fangs9090]

"Well, it's no ordinary stone, nor is it just a large gem. It's valuable for the appearance alone, but it's supposedly a Dragonstone."

Roy raised an eyebrow. "Supposedly?"

"Well, we have no way of knowing for sure, really. But either way it's still a precious heirloom, not just some trinket."

 

[Darkling0096]

"I see," Jalin frowned, "How have you not been able to test if it is a dragonstone?"

"Jalin..."

"I am told your fur color is quite unique, our experiences suggest that such external variation from other members of your species is only possible through draconic lineage. The myth of the dragonstones dictated they could only be used by those of dragonblood, did it not?"

 

[Fangs9090]

Fitzroy glanced at him. "Hm? No, there's no dragonblood in our family. I don't know how the stone came to be an heirloom. And my fur is actually not that unusual. Not here, anyway. I'm guessing it's different overseas."

 

[Darkling0096]

"Very," now Turac looked confused, "You are the first beastkin I have ever seen to have an unnatural fur color." And he lived with Shuffle.

 

[Fangs9090]

"I wonder what makes the difference. In any case, do not be surprised when you see others with colorful coats." He stopped as he came to the door of his room, opening it to let them inside.

 

[Darkling0096]

Jalin sniffed as he entered the room, detecting the perfumes and soaps used by the prince and his servants in his chambers. He could smell a number of people's scents in here, but he was unable to determine which of them was the thief, or which was among the more recent, the traffic was too high. "Well, that is a problem," Jalin frowned. "There are too many scents in here, they mask each other. It is just... noise."

 

[Fangs9090]

Fitzroy glanced around. "I see... Well, the thief had to have come and gone through the window. There's no way they would have been to traverse the entire castle like that undetected." He walked over and opened the window, looking down below. "Perhaps there's a trail to pick up down there?"

 

[Darkling0096]

"Perhaps, but that is a considerable way down," Jalin nodded as the echo finally reached him, "What was the weather like overnight?" If it was rainy, or even just a bit windier than normal, there was no way he'd be able to pick up the scent, it'd be gone.

 

[Fangs9090]

"It was a calm night, I believe. And I don't advise jumping, but you can go down and walk around to that point."

 

[Darkling0096]

"In either case," Jalin felt the windowsill for tool marks, "For someone to get up here from down there, and fit through this window without breaking it, they would either need strong claws, which would leave marks, gecko feet, which leave rather noticeable footprints on account of not being able to wear shoes, or they would need to fly..."

 

[Fangs9090]

"Or tools to make up for a lack of those."

Sure enough, there was a single gash in the window sill, where a hook had dug into it.

 

[Darkling0096]

"Yes, but...", Jalin grabbed Roy to show him the hook mark, "How do you suppose one can throw a hook from the ground to here unaided?"

 

[Fangs9090]

"Hm..." Roy examined the distance, calculating it in his head. "A strong arm and the right technique..." He nodded. "If one were to spin the hook in a circle before throwing, they could build momentum, letting them toss it much further than a regular throw."

 

[Darkling0096]

"That does not seem as though it would be possible for someone who is also light enough to pull themselves up the length of the rope without becoming exhausted," Jalin pointed out, "That's what, six, seven floors?" At least in his estimation. Climbing that far would leave all but the most experienced and skilled climbers wheezing and heaving for air, hardly a quiet affair. A bulky individual with the upper body strength to cast a climbing hook that distance by themselves would be too heavy to do it themselves. "Unless there is an accomplice, magic is involved, likely in the tools themselves."

 

[Fangs9090]

“Also a possibility. How does this help us track them?”

 

[Darkling0096]

"Well," Jalin nodded down to the bottom, "Magic in the applicable sense is not magic in the metaphorical sense." Jalin put air quotes around the second 'magic' in that sentence. "Things don't just happen, there are rules. Whatever magical tool might have been used to launch the hook would have left something behind." Perhaps a mana burn from the discharge, or a cartridge from whatever propelled the hook. In the dark those things would be hard to spot, but in the light, when they were being searched for...

"Like the steam cartridge for my repeater?", Turac offered.

"Precisely," Jalin nodded. "If we go down and investigate, we will either find evidence of someone very large who would have been able to throw the hook this far up, or evidence of a magical tool used to launch it."

 

[Fangs9090]

“Assuming this is a professional thief, which is likely, they may have known to pick any physical evidence that might have been dropped. Let’s hope for a mana burn, in that case.”

 

[Darkling0096]

"Indeed," Jalin nodded, "Let us go seek this burn, then," down at the base of the tower, Jalin had to rely on the brothers' sight to seek out evidence of either possibility, as he himself could not see, though he was attempting to sniff out evidence of either the thief or the proposed accomplice.