A Request from the Guard

In the main room of the guard barracks, my party was standing around in a huddle in the middle of the room waiting for me.

“There you are,” said Flora, waving at me. I went over to join them. Mia came out of the captain’s office and joined us.

“What’s this all about?” I asked.

“Thank you all for coming,” said Mia. “Now, as you may or may not know, the capital has been plagued by a series of muggings in both the lower and upper quarters.”

“You want us to stop a few muggers?” Lucille asked. “Can’t your guards do this?”

“Normally, yes, but we are spread thin at the moment. With the upcoming High Summit, we have very little manpower to spare. We weren’t concerned with these muggings, as they haven’t been violent, but that changed last night. Now, we’ve got a dead body, an angry father, and a lack of manpower. You’ve all proven yourselves by taking down those bandits, so getting your aid here should be an easy sell to the nobles when the budget comes due,” she said.

“A few muggers sounds a lot easier than that bandit gang,” I said, looking around to the others. “We’re in.”

“Great,” Mia said, relieved, her tail wagging happily. “Corporal Jenkins will give you all the details you’ll need. He was the one in charge before now. Thanks a bunch for your help, you all.”

“Glad to be of assistance, Captain,” said Lucille. Mia nodded before heading back into her office. As if that was his cue, a portly guard with an ill fitting helmet rushed up from the side of the room.

“I-I’m Corporal Jenkins, sir!” he saluted. “At your disposal, sir!”

“At ease, I guess,” I said. The guard relaxed, and as his arm flopped down to his side, his helmet nearly fell off. “What can you tell us about these muggers?”

“Well, for starters, they operate all over the city, so it’s hard to narrow down any sort of base they’d be operating out of. Aside from that, all we know is that they generally target travelers who don’t know their way around town. My guess is it makes for an easy escape if the target doesn’t know how to follow you through the backstreets,” he said, adjusting his helmet.

“Makes sense. Anything else?” asked Sofia.

“Oh, yeah, uh, they usually don’t actually hurt anybody. First time they did was last night. Poor kid. Grisly **** it was,” he said, shaking his head.

“Do we have any idea who these people are? A description of them from the victims, maybe?” Alice asked.

“Nope. All the victims said they didn’t see anything. Mighty strange if you ask me,” he said.

“So, you’ve turned up nothing in all your time investigating this?” I asked.

“Yes sir!” Jenkins said, saluting. I facepalmed.

“Alright, thanks for the help, Jenkins,” I said, about to head out. “You wouldn’t happen to have a badge, or something that’d show I’m with the guard I can use, would you?”

“Hmm? Oh, you mean my insignia! Sure, you can borrow mine! Just remember to give it back once you’re done,” he said, shuffling around in his pocket. He produced a silver pendant shaped like a sword behind a shield.

“Thanks. Could you take us to the **** scene? I’d like to start there,” I said. He nodded, heading out of the barrack.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us, huh?” sighed Flora.

“You can say that again. This Jenkins guy kinda sucks,” Sofia said. The two girls have a hearty laugh.

“Alright, that’s enough. Let’s get going,” I said, following after our guide. We headed down to the lower quarter, Jenkins stopping to salute every damn guard we passed by. As we passed by the armory, Sofia pulled on my sleeve.

“Hang on for a second, Flynn,” she said.

“What for?” I asked. She and the others were sporting huge smiles.

“It’s a surprise,” Lucille said.

“Yeah, just come on!” Said Flora, opening the armory door.

“Okay...” I said. The five of us entered the armory, leaving Jenkins outside.