Unwanted guests (Keldon)

[Amber Brightwing]

When she saw that Imperials had taken the place where once Vortexian guards stood it was just more oil on the fire. The citizens of Vortex still had a serious dislike for the Imperials, so it was for the best of the city if she would be able to get rid of them as soon as possible. She knew they had the law on their side, but that didn’t mean she thought them to be right. If they tried to take over the guard’s duties it was bound to end up worse then it was before and she wasn’t about to let them happen.

Without hesitation she flew up to the entrance and addressed those guarding the entrance. “I am Amber Brightwing, Thane of Vortex, and I would like to speak to whomever is in charge.” Her words were polite, but it still sounded almost as an order opposed to a request.

[Keldon Elsdragon]

The two guards who were visible at the doorway looked at the Thane then smirked, the one to her right nodded his head. "One moment your grace," he said as he turned and entered the building. It was only a brief moment before he came out with the officer on the watch for that area of the building.

Walking out of the doorway the man was clad in armor bearing the imperial seal. The insignia of a Daekin, the man was shorter then most and husky although not of fat but of muscle his cap flapped as he walked out of the building. The guard that went in to fetch him returned to his post at the mans side. "You requested to see me Lady Brightwing?" he said, although his tone was not that of one answering the summons of a Thane. It was that of 'you asked for me, now what do you want?' of a voice and the man stood there waiting for a response.

[Amber Brightwing]

“Serale.” She made a small bow midair, already partly satisfied with the fast response. The insignia of a Daekin didn’t say her anything. Not accustomed to the hierarchy of the Imperial forces she wouldn’t even be able to tell exactly how much power one had. She simply assumed that this was the man in charge.

“I came to inform myself on what it is exactly you are hoping to achieve and perhaps see how the city could help you with it. I can understand that investigation is needed when the head of the guard is involved, but I’d like to see the guard return to their normal duty as soon as possible, unhindered.”

To put it very bluntly, she wanted to know the fastest way to get rid of them. Her tone was friendly and rational though, as she hoped that cooperation would be the fastest way.

[Keldon Elsdragon]

The man looked at her for a moment thinking, was a good question. They were hoping to find information that would help convict the former Captain of the building, and perhaps keys to any other criminal activity. "I understand your concerns Lady Thane.... please come inside..." he would say and if accepted would lead her into the main entry room for the building. Which would normally look neat to a degree, however shelves, and case's were now lined the room some neatly stacks of papers filed, other pieces of furniture that were obviously from other rooms sat against the walls. The guard from outside would close the door behind the thane after she entered and the Deaken would keep walking up to a small table and lean against it.

"I understand your concerns in regards to the Imperials taking control of your local guard Miss Brightwing. However you also need to understand ours, the highest letter of the law within Vortex is now under arrest. Not by your own guard, or your province. But by the Empire itself as it is believed the guard of the city and perhaps the justice system of the province failed in enforcing the laws of the land... which present a very troubling situation." he paused and took a breath for a moment. "The concern that is on the mind of Provost Elsdragon that ordered us here is the degree in which the criminal activity extends. Does it sit at the head of the table or does it branch down the chain of command? Is the guard lined with forces that should not be within its ranks? I am sure you understand where I am going with this. I doubt you will believe it however I am not here to replace your guard. It is not what we are trained for, we are indeed trained to enforce the law of the Empire but the operations of the city is indeed best rested in the local guard, but we also are charged with the task of protecting the people of the Empire... from any aggressor and threat... which if there are threats to the lives of the people of this city inside the ranks of the local guard, it is my... our responsibility to locate said threat and remove them, would you not agree?" the man did not want to be in the city, however he understood why he was here and would follow the orders of his superiors.

[Amber Brightwing]

She simply nodded and followed the man inside. After hearing his explanation she thought about it for a moment before replying. She even allowed herself a bit of optimism as it seemed that they might be off again very soon.

“To tell you the truth, the arrest itself is not a complete surprise. I’ve been suspecting him to be involved in less legal activities for a while, though it must be said that I didn’t suspect them to be that serious. I don’t see where the cities or the provinces justice system failed though. Like I said, I only had minor suspicions and nothing solid to justify an arrest. If you had delivered an order for his arrest on my desk I can assure you I would have him deliver to you neatly packed in chains. If you had me provided with enough proof to accuse him and he would not have been able to provide the needed counter evidence he would find himself hanging from the trees outside the city gates.”

She paused for a second. It was probably best not to mention she had been pretty certain he would be doing less legal activities on the side. She had never been sure exactly how much power he had outside his position as Captain of the Guard though. Not that it would have stopped her in any way. If it had ever come to the point that she needed to arrest him she would most likely have made him resist the arrest so she had an excuse to prevent him from getting away with something.

“I knew from the start he was greedy and power hungry, but I gave him the job anyway. It might perhaps not seem like such a good idea, but the guards have straightened up a lot since he was appointed. There’s a lot less corruption, we actually patrol in the Southern Quarter again and the crime in general is down. I don’t know what Dimitri did on the side, but I’ve always kept my eye out for what he was doing with the guards and I can assure you whatever irregularities you might find, they are still doing a better job then when I first was appointed Thane.”

[Keldon Elsdragon]

He nodded slowly making mental notes, although he wondered if the Thane understood her role, and the fact that she could not order an imperial citizen of any level to there death without permission to perform high justice which is reserved for the highest levels of government in a province. But that was something for later on if need be. "Understood, and his guilt is now unreversable in the eyes of the law until he proves otherwise. However what is also of concern Miss Brightwing is the level of corruption that could be in the guard or not. Giving him the job may have been in error, however what is done is done and no one expects any less of a Thane then to appoint the people they feel best suited for the task ahead. Now one reason we are here is to see how much the guard have truly straightened up, is it because there former Captain was good at what he did. Or, perhaps was it because he was using other tactics to bring the crime level down and have them fear him, or move the criminal activity's out of the public eye to make it look like the guard is doing well.... those are the questions we need answered. They might be doing a better job then they were before. However the legitimacy of that job is important aswel, as its easy to cover something up when the guard is in your pocket." he said with a heavy sigh. "What type of... less legal activities on the side where you concerned about?" the man said expecting an answer.

[Amber Brightwing]

Amber understood her own role quite well. That didn’t mean she necessarily knew everything of what those below her did. She had only a very basic knowledge of Imperial law and simply trusted that those appointed to take care of judging and trialling criminals knew what they were doing and let them do their business as long as she got no complaints.

“I doubt he’ll have used illegal tactics to bring down crime and if he did I’m quite sure he didn’t use them in a large scale. Like I said, I have tried to keep an eye on what he was doing, knowing he might cross some lines if I gave him too much leeway. All in all I think that if he did commit the crimes you accuse him off the guard will have played a minor role in it.” He had suggested things like using necromancy and collaborating with the Blood Alley Gang rather than taking them down, but she had always given negative answers on such proposals and she was fairly confident he hadn’t gone against her orders.

“I had been thinking more along the lines of economical crimes. Smuggling and such to avoid taxes. He might have used the guards even to take down rivals and keep them away from himself, but I doubt I’ll have gone much farther then that. I knew he was setting up some businesses, but like I said, I don’t know much about what they were for exactly. I never thought it would be that serious though.” She was fairly certain he was trying to get involved in slavery as well, probably even with Allerian citizens, but she figured it would be best not to mention that. The conspiracy against the empire and treason was truly unexpected though.

[Keldon Elsdragon]

He nodded once more. "Unfortunately your doubt is not something I, or my superiors could rely on without questions Lady Thane. We will need to prove said things before we can releave this building back into the control of the local guard, however your desire to have them return to there normal duties is agreed, although... " he said slowly as he did not expect the Thane to like this next statement very much. "We have orders to ensure the guard is not being commanded by someone who would be in reach of the former Captains sway, aswel as I feel it would be most appropriate if my some of my men assumed the more vital roles of the guards. Namely for the time being the protection and security of all the cities armory's, and catches will be guarded by the Imperials, the duties at the local bank and cities gold stores will be replaced by Imperial forces... for the time being." he said with a brief nod. "Please keep in mind our presence here is not permanent, atleast not in the role of the local guard. Perhaps this will result in a Imperial presence in the city however that is not a decision I could make Madam."

Moving slightly towards a dressure he tapped on a book which was conveniently the Articles of Imperium. "There are many serious crimes of the Empire, and among many the enslavement of Imperial Citizens is a high crime, one of which the former Captain is guilty of and any links from him to anyone in the city in such matters will lead to more arrests." he said with a smirk. "So what is your main concern Lady Brightwing? To have your guard return to normal operations?"

[Amber Brightwing]

“To have your guard return to normal operations, without any further Imperial presence. It’s not that I don’t like Imperials, but I feel prolonged Imperial presence might do more wrong then right. I don’t mind if you need to arrest accomplices for that, though I would strongly advise to consult me before performing any arrests below ground. The Vysstichi below don’t need that much to be offended. The relations between them and the city are good at the moment and I’d like to keep it that way.” As long as it stayed on the first plane things should be easy enough, but if they wanted to venture lower there would without doubt emerge problems.

“I’d rather see all functions back in the guard’s hands as well. There have been no problems so far with any of the places you mentioned and… well, the citizens simply do not like the presence of Imperials. It goes back to the siege era’s ago, so there’s no true reason for the dislike anymore, but somehow it hasn’t gone out of their system yet. Imperials taking over the city guard might give them a good reason their discontent. It’s not something I or anyone else have much power over.”

She paused for a moment. It complicated things, but it just had to be said. In her opinion, Vortex simply worked best when it could run it’s own things. Cooperation with the city was certainly possible, but taking over parts of the city was just asking for trouble.

“In my opinion you’re most likely to get the best and fastest results when working with the guards rather then trying to control them. I know you can order them around if you wanted, but if you can get them to do the same thing with mutual agreement I would put money on it that things will go a lot smoother. I’ve already send someone to inform Dorvold Hammerhelm that he’s no longer second in command, but it seems that I was a bit too fast. He was Dimitri’s right hand as far as the guards are concerned and probably a business partner as well. I don’t know if he was involved with the illegal activities though. You’re probably best off starting to talk to him. He should know Dimitri better then me and he’s the best man to tell you about how the guards are run. And if nothing shows that he was involved with illegal businesses he would probably be the best choice for Captain of the Guards.”

She hoped that nothing would be found against him, whether there was something or not. Otherwise finding someone more suitable might not be so easy, and she didn’t want the guard to return to it’s former state.

[Keldon Elsdragon]

The man nodded. "Very well, your guard shall resume normal operations outside of this building then. Once we finish looking through the materials and should nothing point us to another government offices within the city then we shall return control of the building back to the local authorities." He said with a pause. "I, with great hope prey that we do not need to perform an arrest below the city. Vortex is known for the distaste of the Imperial Forces and moving below the city could in turn cause far more problems then one would hope."

Standing back up from the desk he smiled. "Reviewing the information from the former Captains command should take no longer then two cycles. Perhaps three, once that is concluded we will withdraw back to our main force outside of the city and again turn control of the building to your guard. I would request a report from your office of all holding that the former Captain had within the city, estates, bank accounts, any assets to the mans name as that would speed up the time we have to work with local banks and so forth. I have no problem with cooperating your grace, so long as the information we need is obtained."

[Amber Brightwing]

Amber smiled, pleased with the outcome of the conversation. It seemed they would be rid of them fast enough. Dorvold should be clever enough not to show any involvement in Dimitri’s illegal affairs – if their was any, especially since he would be warned in advance about what had happened. She didn’t see why their would be much paperwork on said activities either, so they should find a fairly clean guard.

“For estates and other assets you’d have to contact the Aedile, for bank accounts the local bank. I could send them a letter to deliver the information they have if you like, but I suppose you could just as well drop by.”

She knew he had taking control of the old Collegium of the Dark Arts as well, but that was located deep down in Har’oloth and that alone was more then enough not to bring it up.

OOC: You’ll have to contact Dimitri on what’s available at those locations.

[Keldon Elsdragon]

The man nodded once more, "I intended to go to the Aedile's office in the coming brightenings however a letter from yourself or a visit to either office requesting the information would be welcomed and would be helpful in, our efforts to obtain any information required so we can leave your city." He said with a smile an wondered if there was nothing else. "Well milady, if there is nothing else I will return to my duties here, my men have brought me a large pile of paperwork to review and it sitting there longer will just keep us here longer." he said with a smirk, if the thane agreed he would show her out.

"Oh milady, should there be no reason to stay any longer I promise we will leave your city no later then the 20th of next month." he said with one more nod before going into the back rooms.


OOC: Amber I didn't have time to post the thread where they leave. However the letter that is in your office states they would leave the second cycle. Thus they would leave the city as of the 20th Brightening of the first month of spring.