Little boy lost

[Roybean-cenarion-circle]

Things had only gotten stranger and stranger since he had returned from his sabbatical. It was not bad enough that there were no lack of cases for him to review, but the letter he found in his mailbox had really taken the cake.

Roy had not been in Stormwind long enough to get to know all the nobles, but he had met a few. Some were well respected citizens with a healthy respect for the law. Others not so much. But feuding neighbors seemed the least of the civil cases he had to look over. There were domestic assault cases, some petty theft, and last but not least, the sewer monster seemed to have taken a liking to the canals and popped up now and again to scare Stormwind citizens half out of their wits.

The judge did not believe the nonsense story of the giant croc put there to attack marauding Horde. He was more of the opinion that someone’s pet simply got too big and they turned it loose.

The letter he found in his box was a curious thing, it was from a noble of Eastvale who begged the judge to help him find his missing son. Normally such matters were turned over to the Watch and a search party would be sent out to find the boy.

But his Lordship Daniel Trevor seemed to have some kind of phobia about a neighbor, who he claimed had threatened him. Considering it was all over some land dispute, it seemed a bit far fetched to Roy that the neighbor would go to the lengths of kidnapping over it. There had to be more to the story.

The Lord had insisted that Roy hire a tracker to find the boy, who had probably just gotten lost on some foolish adventure and failed to come home. Roy was unsure, but he had a friend at S:I7 who owed him a favor and he called the man in.

“Be discrete as his Lordship demands and he offers a sizeable reward. The boy was last seen in Elwynn Forest near the river. He claims he and his men spent the last few days searching and they found nothing.” The judge informed his agent.

Will Aulten was not a totally seasoned agent. He was in fact, rather green. But he relished the chance to prove his skills. “I will find him, don’t worry!”

The judge was not so sure, but a promise made had to be kept. “I will give you one day to find him. You know I have to report this to the Watch. Find the boy and get him home, and no one will know anything about it. He probably just wandered too far and got lost, now go!”

[Wilaulten-cenarion-circle]

The infirmary was not a bad place, but it galled Will to no end that he was here in the first place! He was certainly not expecting to be attacked in his own city by vicious crocolisks! The beast had left him with a broken leg and a cracked rib. Lucky for WIll that the croc did not seem to like to eat humans. The Watch found him on the sidewalk and were able to stabilize his wounds and stop the bleeding. Setting the leg and carrying him to the Infirmary, where he received the most excellent care.

Upon questioning, a bit of shock and delirium had let it slip he was looking for clues. A lost boy, and the most recent clue had led him to Stormwind. For a brief moment, Will was scared the boy had fallen victim to the croc, but it was mostly imagination gone wild.

Now he was stuck here, the Watch had his clues and the boy was still lost. At this rate he would never get that promotion at S:I7! As miserable as he was, Will had plenty of time to think about things and he began to wonder if the keys were a false lead? He had been certain the scratchings on the one key seemed to indicate a Stormwind residence. He had gone through every neighborhood in the city, looking for a certain symbol on the gate or house. It was oddly shaped, but Will thought it looked like a fox.

His search was for naught, as he never could find the symbol anywhere. Now all he could do is wait, and find some comfort in that the Watch was now looking for the boy.

[Roybean-cenarion-circle]

The Judge had found working on this case demanded a lot more discretion than he was used to. His digging into the court records had brought up more questions than answers.

The boy had been found, safely at least, by a civilian who brought him to the Watch. Upon questioning, the young nobleman’s son revealed his mother was still missing. Apparantly Roger Trevor had decided to go look for her on his own and became lost. When they tried to return him to his father, however, Roger insisted he did not want to go home.

This had raised all kinds of red flags and the Watch decided to place the boy in the Orphanage, for his own safety, while further investigations were done. They instituted a search for Lady Trevor, and found she had never reached the recruiting office in Northshire. This appears to be a possible homicide case.

[Wardley-cenarion-circle]

Alastir Wardley had been a medic for a long time, even before joining the Watch. So he was no stranger to death or to severe injuries. When he began to patrol with the Watch, he ran into some small incidents, but nothing out of the ordinary.

His first time on a hunt for a missing person would prove to be memorable in many ways. The clues they got from the citizens in Westfall led them to the old farm that was home to Reileen Trevors, formerly Reileen Baker.

The farm was in a sorry state, having been neglected since Reileen’s parents passed many years ago. The Watch patrol had examined the broken down remains of the house, looking for clues. Footprints and bits of hair and an old journal were found and collected.

Upon finding the evidence of horses moving away from the farm to the West, Officer Wardley was called upon to use his nose to follow the tracks. It was the first time for him to do so and he was very nervous. But soon the excitement of the hunt had him nose to the ground and almost whining in eagerness.

They followed the tracks to the road, where they almost lost the trail in the maze of other tracks and scents. It took Officer Wardley a few minutes of scouting up and down the road in either direction before he found a definite trail to the West. Soon they were moving across the barren fields.

The trail led to a cliff overlooking the Gold Quarry, an old mine that had been closed for some time. It was not easy to get down the cliff, as the cataclysmic events had made fissures where there used to be a trail down to the mine. It was here that the horses had been let go, as it appeared they were no longer needed.

Alastir used his druidic flight form to fly down the cliff side while the other members of the search party used other means. On the way down, they found scuff marks and disturbances of the sparse vegetation. At the bottom of the cliff, Alastir changed back to worgen form and sniffed for the trail. He found where something had been dragged into the mine, the scent of Reileen Trevors very strong now, and to his horror, it smelled of death. But he was not sure of this, as they had not found the body.

Now it was time for the others to take charge, and Alastir hung back. As a rookie, he was expected to learn the methods of a search and also caution when approaching a possible crime scene. There was no telling if criminals were inside the mine still or if they had gone.

Alastir could smell something amongst the rocks and debris, it made his head spin and his nerves to jangle. Reminding him of the horrible experiences he had in Gilnaes before he was found and treated for the curse. It was not something he had told many people of, the hunt and the wild urges were distinct memories he would rather forget.

As they moved deeper into the cave, it became apparent that something was very wrong. The smell of death was so strong they all had to cover noses to try and block the stench. What they found was horrifying in the extreme. Lady Trevors had been beaten severely and her body left here in this cave. Alastir was nearly sick, the smell of rotting flesh had him gagging and retching. The team went to work examining the cave for other clues.

When it became clear they needed to follow the killer’s trail, Alastir could not leave the cave fast enough. Fresh air never seemed so good to him. Sneezing and shaking his head to clear the images and the memories, he got to work seeking the trail.

Now his thoughts turned to anger. This male, whoever it was, has beaten a woman to death. The motive was entirely unclear. Had she found someone occupying the old house and surprised them? Had they known each other before this? So many questions! Wardley would have to let the senior investigators work on this one. He was curious and eager to learn their methods.

The trail of the killer led to the cliffs opposite where they had come in. When they found a bit of rope dangling from the top, they immediately went up. Alastir found the trail ended at the top. The vegetation and dirt was disturbed in a circular area, possibly an air machine? Officer Wardley cursed as he searched in vain for any trail. But in vain, as whoever it was had been picked up and flown away.