Report: Death Of Officer Richard Delwood

[*Taurus Daggerknight]

The following report is submitted by Dace Andor.

Last night while off duty, I was at Khazeet's Cafe' , in the company of Namer Kali and a few other citizens (Mauric, Leonzio and another civilian whom I have not met). At some point an elven woman named Liawyn approached us ((a description is added)). She said she was the husband of officer Richard Delwood, a man in the Harmonium who had expressed concerns to his superior (Officer Larris) regarding the arrests of the begger David. We were told that these concerns landed him in some trouble, and so he was given an extra shift of guard duty. To alleviate the stress, Liawyn wanted us to deliver Richard a surprise anniversary present.

At first we were all suspicious- I'll admit, perhaps paranoid- about this being another Anarch ploy, and so we checked the item and box itself several times over for enchantments and mechanical functions (though we only performed a careful search once we had the item out of view.). She was cooperative and showed us what she wanted delivered, and after being satisfied (then and after) that the object was not a bomb, we took it to the barracks. I requested Kali ensure that the woman did not leave, just incase we had missed something and this did turn out to be a ploy, which she did.

We proceeded to the Harmonium base and asked the door guards about Richard's posting. We (Leonzio, Mauric, my wife Sasha and I ) were then directed to the entrance of Undersigil, a spot which Richard had "earned" by questioning the David situation. Back tracking, we ventured to said entrance, only to find the officer's dead body floating in the water. A child by the name of Jonathan was near by, terrified by what he had apparently seen. He approached Sasha and told her what he saw: a hooded man of roughly my height had garroted the officer, and upon seeing him, gave him a coin and scroll, instructing the boy to hand the scroll to the first person to come by. The boy did not see the assailants face, though the scroll was handed over to Sasha.

The scroll turned out to be a notice of sorts by the assailant, admitting to be an Anarchist and claiming that for every time David is arrested, more officers will be killed. The letter itself is currently with the Harmonium, and I suggest we request access to it once again incase Mercykilelr support is needed in the hunt for this man.

While the message was being read out to us, Leonzio pulled the body out of the water, and I attempted to use both Raise Dead and Ressurection scrolls, but neither of them took. Once we had exhausted all rescue options, I paid the boy ten coins and had him inform the Harmonium officers at the outpost, prompting them to send over a squad to secure the area. Soon after this we were joined by Justice Kiriesen, Namer Rozalina and Namer Kali.

Under the circumstances, the responding officers remained professional despite the fact that some in the unit had personally known Richard.

We relinquished the present first given to us for the fallen officer, as the Harmonium deemed it may be neccissary to keep for the moment, though they have assured us that it will find its way back to the widow. We also informed them that the Mercykillers stood ready should they require further assistance. Before departing, we also relinquished the assassins letter, suggesting that it be used as a scry medium to try and find the assassin. The officer took this under consideration.

After leaving the crime scene, we returned to the cafe' to inform Liawyn of her husbands demise. Leonzio, Namer Rozalina and Justice Kierisen handled the bulk of this part, albeit with constant interferance from Mauric , who seemed to positively take glee in harassing the widow over her husbands death.


I would like to add some of my observations and conclusions based on the above.

1) I have heard of this Officer Larris before, and nothing I hear of him is overly positive. I believe he may be the one who has been aggressively going after David, more so than the situation perhaps warrants. He is also the one who assigned Richard to guard the otherwise unwatched Undersigil entrance, completely alone and out of sight from anyone else. My fear is that he may have deliberately had officer Richard sent here to die for having questioned his orders.

2) The Harmonium will be quick to jump at David as being the responsible party, but based on my investigations into the Hive, I can guarantee that this is not the case. Furthermore, I think we should investigate the possibility of David being framed by someone, or simply of this being an overzealous supporter. 

Sincerely,

Namer Dace Andor

[*Archangel]

Having asked for the report Kiera gives it a brief review before passing it up the chain with a note of her own attached. They would both be delivered to Charae's office.

I would like to add my commendation of Namer Dace for professionalism and attention to duty.  Even being off duty himself he handled the situation as befits a member of our order, and worked with the Harmonium as an example to others.  He mentions me at the end and in reality I only supported the woman so she did not collapse and escorted her home after.  Namer Dace and his friends handled the delivery of the bad news, with the unfortunate Mauric offering his own pathetic quips. 

When I arrived on scene Namer Dace was intent on relinquishing the scene to me but I stepped back and watched, allowing him to handle the conversation with the Harmonium.  It was as much to observe the recruits as it was logical.  He was acting as a private citizen at the time and far more informed than I, it would not have done any good for me to take charge of the situation.  Namer Dace is due all credit for the leads we have found, and his exemplary handling of the situation.

I also agree with his assessment of David, the Beggar.  I do not believe the man is involved, and whether this is an internal Harmonium dispute, or anarchs killing in the beggar's name, I do not believe David to be at fault in this.  I would not recommend we pursue that in any way as it may jeopardize the current work we are doing to win the man's trust.

Justice Kierisen

[*DarkArc]

Charae places the two reports into her archive and writes a response.

Justice Kierisen,

It is unfortunate what happened to Officer Richard Delwood and I also agree that  the circumstances of his death is largely in part to incompetence of command and willful negligence.

Whoever is behind these killings seems to be intent upon using this beggar David as a symbol to rally for and justify their actions. As of the moment, we will not interfere or assist the Harmonium in maintaining order. Measure Larris has made it very clear that he does not wish our help within the ward and I intend to let him hang himself with that notion. You will only assist the Harmonium if you are asked to. Until then, keep your eyes and ears open and inform me of any further failings of the Measure.

Regards
Factor Charae