Closed An Investigation.

[Valerius Nitrozian]

The 21st of Spring, 514 AV

The Nitrozian Moletta Sanitary Station was just about to close for the day as Valerius Nitrozian, one of the two people that had given the establishment its name made his way to the desk of Amolina Moletta. The young man looked perfect, as always. He didn’t look tired at all, even though they had had a somewhat busy day. „Miss Moletta“, he spoke and waited a moment to be sure that he had her attention before he continued, „I will need you to accompagny me after you have finished your work for the day. I have some business to attent to at Tine’s Exotic Goods, and your presence would be very much appreciated.“

Tine’s Exotic Goods was not one of the places he normally frequented. The shop was too chaotic, too eccentric, and he disliked the owner, Tine, who had a woman’s name, but was really a man with rotten teeth who wore strange clothes. But it couldn’t be helped. A few months ago his grandfather, Sitanos, the head of the family, had nearly been murdered, and he was no closer to solving the mystery. Tine dealt in strange and exotic items that came from all over Mizahar, he was knew people that would never talk to him, Valerius, if he approached them on his own.

Maybe Tine would be able to help him solve the mystery.

He didn’t tell any of that to Amolina though. Maybe he would on their way to the shop if she behaved well and didn’t protest. But for now he was Valerius Nitrozian, a member of one of the most powerful families of Ravok, and she was a commoner. The Sanitary Station couldn’t have been opened without his money and influence, so he expected her to do whatever he said, without hesitation.

[Amolina]

Amolina was organizing papers, as she called it, though it might not look too well organized to others. Verin Rush had told her as much … this seemed so long ago, just like everything that had happened before the birth of her new little daughter Pearl seemed long ago. Amolina’s focus had shifted dramatically to say the least. Now she took a paper from the in-pile and read the text, before she put it in the archive-pile, which was the way she organized things.

She felt done for the day and about to rush home to the baby and it’s nanny when her plans were interrupted by Valerius. She looked up. The Nitrozian’s perfection was complete and without blame, as always. And his voice was self-assured as always. It was obvious that he expected her to do as he said, without any questions.

If it had been project business Amolina might have started to say she held one third of the shares and was a partner and not an employee and besides she needed to go home now as she had a family to take care of. But it wasn’t project business, it was some kind of after work activity at Tine’s Exotic Goods and he had said her presence would be very much appreciated.

Although she assumed her business partners might know about her new circumstances she hadn’t spoken about it at work and they hadn’t commented on it. She felt relieved. It seemed like she would simply be left alone to cope with her new and more complicated personal life as best she could, as long as it didn’t affect other things, like work. She had decided to never mention anything about it when she was at the research station.

She wanted to keep it this way so she just said she’d be ready in a chime. She left the desk, put her cloak over the white linen nurse dress and followed the Nitrozian out through the door. Tine’s Exotic Goods…that was at the Plaza of Dark Delights. She assumed Valerius would want to take a ravonsala there. After her experience with the fish monster Amolina didn’t feel comfortable with going by boat. But as walking in Ravok was a time-consuming thing she had reluctantly started to go by ravonsala again, for longer distances.

“So we are going to Tine’s ?” she said while they walked out from the location. “I take it you are going to buy something special? “

[Valerius Nitrozian]

While Amolina got ready, Valerius took a seat in the entrance room. He watched her closely, arms crossed over his chest, but he didn’t say anything. He didn’t tell her to hurry up. In his opinion the look he gave her was enough. Once she had put on her cloak, he wordlessly rose, walked out of the door and held it open for her, a sign that he could act like a gentleman– if he wanted to.

„Yes, we are“, he confirmed as she asked him if they were going to Tine’s He was only slightly annoyed because she felt the need to ask even though he had told her where they were going a few chimes ago. „But I’m not interested in buying anything. I’m not interested in buying anything that can be touched“, he corrected. „I’m interested in information, and it would be beneficial for me to to have somebody of your skills with me.“

He didn’t say anything more. If she wanted to know what exactly it was that he hoped to accomplish at Tine’s and what he wanted from her, she would have to ask. Valerius was never particularly forthcoming with information. He only shared as much as was absolutely necessary.

„I assume somebody will be taking care of your child while you assist me with my business?“ He asked the question in a perfectly polite manner even though there was something about Amolina Moletta’s quite unexpected motherhood that irritated him. Who was the father? Had Mister Parnell and she become more than just business partners? And why he not noticed anything about her pregnancy?

Why had she never informed him?

He frowned a little as he walked next to her, in the direction of the docks and the Plaza of Dark Delights where Tine’s was located. It had occured to him that Amolina Moletta was much more than a poor actress of average talent.

[Amolina]

Amolina confirmed that her child was well taken care of. She didn’t say anything more about it, as she took it Valerius asked the question for the same reason he held the door up for her - just the well behaved manners of a well behaved man.

Pearl …

The existence of the child rested in her awareness, a gleaming secret, though it wasn’t a secret at all. For the child she would do everything, everything … Silently, invisibly this knowledge changed her in ways she didn’t know, from somebody she could hardly understand that she had been, to somebody she hadn’t know she could be.

During this period of her life, early in spring 514 AV, Amolina Moletta was feeling like she had been blindfolded but suddenly the blindfold had been torn away and she saw everything around her with wide open eyes - and everything was new.

She looked at everything and took in every detail and nuance of the familiar surroundings. They walked in the shimmering beauty of Ravok in the evening. The lights in the approaching darkness were mirrored in the water of the canals and the atmosphere was mysterious, alluring and seemed full of promises. The city was surely the most beautiful place in the world…

She looked at Valerius. He was immaculate. His clothes were perfect and so was his well brushed coppery hair. And as usual he didn’t’ say so much about his thoughts and plans. Amolina let him take lead, as Valerius seemed to like to take leadership and she found it easy to let it be that way. She always had.

“Somebody with my skills?” she said inquiringly and thought about her nearly complete lack of the kind of skills that were important for her “work” at the research project. It made her nervous that he was speaking about needing her skills for real - he actually sounded like he meant it for real. But she couldn't think of anything he would need her to help him with. He was more knowledgeable than she was. Better at interrogating people too, if that was his goal.

As always the acting came to her aid. She concealed her confusion behind a calm façade and while they walked on she allowed herself a discrete impersonation of her chosen model, a fortune teller she had spoken with last summer, a woman named Amelia Cross. She walked beside Valerius with the elegant steps of the other woman, her countenance and her way to hold her head. But she stopped there, as she had lately started to think impersonation could be even better if I was done more subtly.

So when she spoke to Valerius again it was in her own voice, deeper pitched than her models very light and sweet way of speaking. “I will do what I can” she said. “But what exactly do you want me to do when we are at Tine’s? Ask questions ?”

[Valerius Nitrozian]

„I need somebody who knows how to act“, he clarified. „Not a nurse.“ If he had need of a nurse – or a doctor – he would ask a real one, not somebody like Amolina Moletta who started her job with nearly no knowledge about taking care of sick people, but he didn’t tell her that as it would be unwise to argue with her now. She might refuse to work with him if he spoke badly of her qualifications as a nurse.

„I need somebody who can pretend and is observant“, he continued. „Two people see and hear more than one. Besides, if you are with me this evening, people will think we are doing work for the Sanitary Station – or enjoying some time together - and they will ask fewer questions because of it. I do not normally visit such places, but you …“

He gave her a few moments to take in what he had said before he replied, „Yes, we will ask questions, Miss Moletta.“ He fell silent for a moment, thinking, and then he asked a question of his own, „Have you ever met my grandfather, Sitanos, the head of my family? Do you know what happened to him – what nearly happened to him? I wish to solve the riddle, and I hope that I will finally get a few answers today.“

„I assume you don’t have any issues with helping me in this regard?“ he asked, of course assuming that she would be fine with it. Who wouldn’t want to gain the favour of all of House Nitrozian and help solve one of Ravok’s most talked about crimes? „We are almost there“, he added, as if he wanted to give her one last chance to leave – which he didn’t of course.

[Amolina]

Amolina nodded when Valerius mentioned his grandfather. Everbody in Ravok knew the name Sitanos Nitrozian.“There were lots of rumors about an assassination attempt at a big party last year” she said. “You know how people speak. They said somebody had turned up like from empty air and attacked him with a dagger. That’s what I’ve heard.”

They weren’t far from The Plaza of Dark Delights now. The shop they were headed to, Tine’s, would soon be in sight. Although Amolina felt relieved that she wasn’t expected to be a knowledgeable nurse all of a sudden, she still felt there was lots of information Valerius had left out. But she had grasped that he wanted her to act so it looked like the two of them were on a work errand for the research project NMSS, or even just spending some time together after work just to socialize.

“I’m good at observing people, watch their faces, the way they speak, the way they move, the way their voices sound - and analyze and understand what it means” she said. “It’s part of the work for a performer. We need to study other people, fellow performers and ourselves in order to learn how to express things with the body language and the tone of the voice. Acting is very much about this, it’s not like just reading lines.”

She paused and thought a bit before she continued.
“And the acting is no problem. I will make it look like we are a couple of colleagues who are getting along really well and this evening we are out to buy a few things for ... “ She had nearly said ‘Parnell’s lab’, but stopped, as it wasn’t his lab, even if the man seemed to believe so just because other people preferred the pleasant lobby of NMSS.

Instead she said : “The medical treatments. I think we could look at things at Tine’s and maybe at Black Tar and pretend to discuss them from a medical point of view. Other’s doesn’t know anything about our work so I’m sure we can discuss any items. And while we ask detailed questions to investigate their properties and the shop owners are already answering an onslaught of questions we can add questions related to the attack ... that way it won’t be so obvious what we are asking about. And in order to spread even more haze over it we can also have a look at a few items that has nothing with work to do whatsoever.”

Amolina felt pretty pleased with the subterfuge idea she had crafted there.

“We don’t need to buy anything. Just look at things, discuss and ask lots of questions. If we buy something it ought to be something whimsical, like a gift for somebody. “ It struck her that this was a very good way to confuse people and conceal the investigation. “You could pretend that you are looking for something for me” she suggested. “Something beautiful, just as a gift.”

And then she got an even better idea : “Or you could pretend you are looking to buy something for my little daughter. Something beautiful for a baby to look at, or a small toy. A few questions about children’s toys ought to really divert them from what we are after for real.”

Secretly she started to hope he would find it best to make the cover as realistic as possible and really buy jewellery, new exotic perfume for herself and something nice for Pearl too. Though she wasn’t sure Tine’s had something suitable. She was mostly shopping at Odds and Ends. And Black Tar didn’t seem like a place to buy cute things for babies.

Then again ...

The House of Immortal Pleasures was at the Plaza and if it turned out they would need to ask questions there too it might be possible to buy something spiffy from somebody working there. A pretty necklace or so, or something else beautiful for Amolina to wear. There might be expensive and luxurious silk undergowns or night gowns. She did however not mention this to Valerius. She didn’t want to come off as a cheap gold-digger.

They were approaching Tine’s and she looked up at Valerius and asked him what he thought about the plan she had tried to make.

[Valerius Nitrozian]

„Those rumors weren’t rumors at all“, Valerius informed Amolina. „My grandfather was attacked during a party at our house that a lot of people that mattered in Ravok attended. Somebody did indeed seem to appear form out of thin air and threw a dagger at him. The assassin got away. I visited the Institute of Higher Learning afterwards and was told that the assassin might have practiced the magical discipline known as Voiding.“

Valerius spoke in a low tone as he didn’t want anybody else to find out what they were talking about. He didn’t want anybody to know what kind of mission he was on. He gave Amolina a few moments to think about what she had just heard, and then he decided to give her a bit more information,

„I was also told that somebody who is in a position of power in this city might have been involved, somebody that holds almost as much power as my grandfather. Understand that I cannot tell you who that somebody is though. The knowledge is potentially dangerous. I assume that I can trust you to keep what you have just heard to yourself? You could lose a lot if the wrong people found out what I just told you.“

He wasn’t just worried about her, he also wanted to make sure that she didn’t go running to House Nitrozian’s enemies and tell them everything in the hope that she would be rewarded. He had come to trust Amolina somewhat in the time they had worked together, but he didn’t trust anybody completely. It was unfortunate that he couldn’t just exist alone.

„Good“, he remarked as she assured him that the acting wouldn’t be a problem. He nodded as she suggested that they could look at things and pretend to discuss them from a medical point of view. He didn’t like buying something for her though. He didn’t like her. On the other hand, it would be beneficial in a lot of different ways if people thought they were close – closer than colleagues. „I will buy something for you if it’s necessary. I hope that you are content with whatever I pick for you.“ He made it sound as if he were doing her a great favour. „Come now though, Miss Moletta. I wish to start our investigation.“

He led her to Tine’s that was visible down the road, nestled between two larger buildings. Once they had almost reached the door, he turned around and looked at her. „Ladies first, Miss Moletta. I do not want anybody to think that I’m treating you badly.“ When she approached the door, he would opene it for her and then step aside so that she could enter in front of him.

[Amolina]

Valierus's excellent and elegant manners made Amolina feel flattered and special. Despite knowing that good manners were nothing else than good manners, she basked in the attention he paid her and how he treated like somebody valuable and worthy of the greatest respect.

Her back straight and her head held high she walked past him through the door, moving with a skilled mix of pride and becoming modesty. In passing by she gave her handsome business associate a brilliant smile. She may have stopped just for a tick at the point most near to him to do it, but only for a tick. Then she moved on and heard his steps behind her and the sound of the door when it closed again.

It was nestled between two larger buildings, this small shop named Tine's Exotic Goods, attached to a somewhat larger warehouse. The outside of the shop had looked rather nondescript with no windows and only a rough wooden sign with the word, "Tine's", carved in it.

But being inside the shop was an entirely other thing. The shop was full of a myridad of items stacked, hung and piled everywhere with some spilling over into the small warehouse connected to it. There seemed to be absoulutely anything for sale. Anything - from costume masks to tools to weapons. It was said that many wares in the shop had come from all across Mizahar. It was also a well known rumor in Ravok that many of these items were not necessarily purchased legitimately. But maybe this was only rumors, as Tine's continued its businees year after year and the authorities never stopped it.

Amolina preferred to shop at Odds and Ends, another allsorts shop in Ravok. This had several reasons. One was that it was more like to find beautiful bracelest and odd ineresting plays at Odds and Ends. Another was that Tine's was at the Plaza of Dark Delights and it was nearly unevitable to be bothered on the street. The third reason was that the shop owner, Tine, was ugly.

She was relieved when the repellent little flabby and rotten toothed man didn't turn up at once to give them the usual grovelling and gooey greeting. She looked around but saw him nowhere. Perhaps he was in the warehouse.

Amolina turned to Valerius. "He isn't here" she stated the obvious. "Maybe we could look arond a bit on our own and see if we can find something that looks suspect. One never knows. Come to think of it, mister Nitrozian, if you wanted to hide a suspect item, this place would be perfect. Rhysol only knows what we may find in here if we hurry up and try to investigate the shop while he's out ... that respulsive little oily man with the horrible teeth, I must admit I can't stand him!"

[Nemesis]

Amolina

Knowledge :

Skills

Skill	XP
Skill ??	+??
Skill ??	+??

Lores

*??
*??
*??

Micellaneous :

Injuries

*??
*??

Loot/Expenses

*??
*??

Valerius Nitrozian

Knowledge :

Skills

Skill	XP
Persuasion	+2
Socialisation	+2
Storytelling	+1

Lores

*None

Micellaneous :

Injuries

*None

Loot/Expenses

*None

____________________________________________

Notes

*Amolina, send me a PM if you return and I'll update your grade.
*Shame this wasn't completed; had potential to be a really fun one. Especially given the strange relationship that the three NMSS business partners have!
*Not much to give, but if you feel I've missed anything, throw me a PM.

Feel free to PM me with questions, comments, or concerns, if you have any.
Also, remember to either delete your grade request or edit it as 'graded'.
Thank ye!