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Post by Ladorak on May 16, 2009 11:00:43 GMT -5
The jack nodded at her words, waiting patiently for the warden to emerge. This he did shortly, emerging into the light to reveal a moderately dressed badger who eyed the two of them curiously. "Yes? What's this I hear about the theft of the Crown Jewels being somehow connected to my prison?" he asked, his voice being an odd combination of grandfatherly and gruff. He was older, perhaps late 50s from what Monty deduced. Hard worker, very dedicated to his cause. This and more the weasel detective summed up as the mustelid warden stood before them.
"Yes...and I can assure you it's not nonsense. I and my associate are investigating the theft of your Crown Jewels and well...I received a tip from a reputable source about this place."
"Yeah?" the badger asked. "How reputable? What makes you think this prison has ANYTHING to do with those missing Crown Jewels?"
"Well....it's the only lead I have." Monty said defensively. "Tell me sir....would I be permitted to see the Pit of the Chatelet?" The badger's eyes raised at this.
"Pit?"
"Yes...and if you would be so kind as to inform me what exactly it is."
The warden pondered this a moment, finally deciding it was OK. "Very well.....follow me." He motioned with a clawed paw and led the way through the gate and out of the sunlight into a musty, poorly lit corridor. It was abundantly clear that such an old fortress did not have "modern" amenities that many other places in this city enjoyed. "The Chatelet, like many old forts and palaces in this city, was converted into a prison almost 400 years ago now, and it houses some of the worst scum in the country. On the lower levels are the so called..."special cells" that only the worst offenders get thrown into."
They were passing mostly through guard barracks, to the right and left of them opened up rooms where the guards slept and lived. They came at present to another guardhouse, this one closing off cells that looked out onto the river. To the right of the guardhouse though was a stair case, gated with heavy iron bars to prevent egress. Taking a ringlet of keys from his pouch, the warden unlocked the gate and swung it back, allowing them access to the lower levels after he carefully locked it behind them. He pawed his keys over to a guard in the gatehouse. "We never carry keys down here unless it's for a specific cell. It helps prevent escapes and discourages attacks on prison staff who come to work down here." he explained as they descended into a very dark hallway.
"Prisoners down here never see the light of day. The Pit is one of two of our worst cells. The other is what I like to call the 'End of Comfort.' It's basically in the prison's garbage dump. All the trash gets thrown into that room and that one of course is reserved for the worst of offenders. The Pit however, is reserved mostly for ringleaders of escape attempts or just those who tried to escape in general. If they don't die by the time we come and retrieve them, they're placed in one of these cells down here. It's a cone shaped place with the tip of the cone being where the beast stands....except they can't fully stand, but they can't fully lie down either. There's generally water in the Pit as well...about up to your knees depending on the height of your species."
They were walking past rows of closed doors now, with no windows cut in them at all. It was prisons like this that truly made the weasel detective shudder. True....they were offenders but still....they were living creatures as well. Ahead of them, in a circular room at the end of the hallway, was what looked like a well cut into the floor. There was a platform on a pulley and rope next to it. "Tell.....who is the current inhabitant of the Pit?"
"Hm? Oh...he's dead. Died yesterday."
"What!?" Monty exclaimed.
"Yeah....starved to death it seems."
"Did he....did he have anything peculiar on him when you searched his body?"
"Peculiar? Not...that I know of. We sent his body off to City morgue for a mass burial."
"I see..." Monty was a bit worried at this development. "Who...was he and what did he do?"
"Hmm....let's see.....we picked him up for highway robbery. It seems he was trying to hijack a coach on the way out of town. He tried to break out last week I believe....and so he ended up in here." They came to a stop at the edge of the Pit now, another gate covering a dark hole that was impossible to see down to the bottom of. Monty peered through the bars, but could see only darkness....black as pitch. "We lower the prisoners on that platform there." the badger gestured at the rope and pulley system. Monty shook his head.
"I'm going to have to get down there." He murmured.
"What!?" the warden asked, taken aback.
"There might be a clue...but before that....did this prisoner receive mail.....anyway he might have gotten a message from the outside?"
"Of course. They're allowed to get mail, but not once they're in the Pit. I don't recall if this particular fellow ever received anything though."
The weasel detective nodded again, and looked at Miri. "Well Jis Talian.....have I covered everything? Is there anything you can think of that I might have missed or if you just had questions in general for the warden before I try and.....get down there?" he asked, gulping at the prospect of doing so and glad that the lighting was so poor in this room that chances were neither of them would have seen his reaction.
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Post by bookity101 on May 17, 2009 7:07:39 GMT -5
Miri waited listening as Monty quizzed the Warden about the prisoner that was in the pit. When asked if she thought that her boss had missed something, she nodded, "Well there are three things actually that I like to say. One.." She said turning to the warden and holding up one claw as she did, "Would it be ok if I asked around about this.. umm he didn't perhaps have a name did he?" After pausing a moment for warden to answer she moved on,
"Two would be to say that," With this she placed a paw on Monty's shoulder and forced ,gently, him away from the pit. "You are not going down there, I am." She held up a paw to stem any argument from either males. "Professional policy, As hireling, I go down the creepy pit, not the beast who did the hiring." Miri made her way to the platform. Stepping near the pulley system she paused, snapping her claws as she remembered, "I nearly forgot , Number three is just a thought that came to mind, Was this fellow actually in the Pit when the jewels were stolen?" She said glancing towards Monty, as he was the one with all of the timing, she wasn't exactly sure when the thievery had happened. "After all he might not even be the beast we are looking for."
Miri turned and swung herself up onto the plat form. "Ok Warden ready," She said , a grin growing on her face, "You're just gonna have to promise not to lock the door after me."
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Post by Ladorak on May 18, 2009 10:11:32 GMT -5
The warden shrugged at her first question. "Can't recall his name, but sure, you may certainly ask around about him." The badger watched curiously as Miri pulled Monty back with a paw, explaining her reasoning as to why she should be the one going down the Pit. Monty WAS paying her after all, not the other way around, though the jack still had his protests about this.
"But Miri, as a gentlemammal I can't have you just..."
"Gentlemammal?" the badger snorted. "Ain't too many 'gentlemammals' in this place." the warden reminded the detective.
"Well yes but still...." the weasel tried to protest, but could see that the jill was quite determined to do this. He could see she was being logical about this, and not just protecting him. "Alright." he relented finally, nodding with closed eyes. "You're right....no sense in having your employer get hurt I suppose. But I DO want you to know.....I would never have a friend of mine do anything that I myself was not willing to do." he said, looking her square in the eyes.
The warden merely shrugged. "Your call." He said, watching as she climbed up onto the platform. He went over and opened the grate, pulling the heavy iron bars back to allow access. He listened to her third question as the jill recalled it at the last minute. "Hum....interesting.....uh let's see....theft was about.....what three weeks ago now?"
"About that, yes." Monty said with a nod, glancing at Miri again, mostly out of concern for her wellbeing.
"Well we picked up this prisoner about a week and a half ago. Thew him in here last week after he tried to break out and died yesterday."
"Then conceivably.....he COULD be connected with the theft of the Crown Jewels." Monty murmured.
"Well l suppose so, but at the same time we got him for trying to hijack a coach."
"Might have been trying to leave the city after the theft." Monty speculated. "Anyways...I suppose we should check it out. Miri....I'll be in contact at the top here, try to look for anything unusual...maybe even under the water." the jack explained to her as the warden moved the platform over to the yawning mouth of the Pit. With a grunt, he began to move the wheel, holding a firm grip to keep it from dropping too fast. About three feet from the bottom the rope became taut and could go no further.
"It's a safety measure, you're gonna have to jump off the platmore into the water now Miss....don't worry...it's only about knee high or so!" the badger called down to her. "You should still be able to reach the platform with your forepaws too, I won't raise this thing until you're done." His black and white head was just barely visible over the rim of the Pit, as was Monty's who watched her with vigilant eyes.
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Post by bookity101 on May 18, 2009 20:11:55 GMT -5
Miri nodded in acknowledgement of what the warden said and held on tight as the platform lurched its way down to the bottom. “Down the well, down the well, down the deep dark, creepy well,” Miri sing-songed to herself as she went down, not knowing if echoed up the shaft or not, and not really caring. She nearly lost her balance as the platform stopped abruptly. She jumped off the edge with a splash, and wrinkled her nose at the smell as she knelt closer to examine the walls. “You really should get someone to do some spring cleaning down here every once and a while!” She called up to lighten the mood of the beasts above.
After about 15 minutes of looking above the waterline and humming nonsensical drivel to herself the whole time. None of the bricks were loose above, so she would have to look below. Grimacing , she reached a paw down below the water feeling around with her paws. “Ok officially over the all the grim you have down here!” She yelled up to the warden as she started on her third row.
She puffed out her breath as she stepped around to the other side of the pit, then yelped as she slipped on a rock and splashed beneath the water. Spraying water from her mouth as she broke the surface she hacked and coughed as she tried to get her breath back. She leaned her paw against the wall under the water trying to stand. She splashed back down as the brick she was leaning one shifted to one side and something slipped to the bottom of the pool of stagnant water.
Reaching down into the water, Miri grabbed an object wrapped in sailcloth. She unwrapped it and let out a whoop, and jumped up, nearly tumbling into the water again. “Pull me up Mr. Warden sir!” She said hopping onto the platform, then noticing the state her clothes were in, she tried to straiten up as she was lifted out of the pit.
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Post by Ladorak on May 19, 2009 8:51:18 GMT -5
Monty could make out a dark shape moving in and out and heard some splashing about as Miri investigated the Pit. He felt like calling down to her if she was alright, but knew he must be patient. If he rushed her she might end up missing something.
The two of them, badger and weasel, could hear a splash from down below that signalled that Miri must have fallen into the water. Just thinking about that dark, slimy, murky water made Monty's flesh crawl and his fur stand on end. It must be unimaginably gross down there...though he wasn't regretting not going down into that darkened place, but he WAS having to regret sending another down there.
The seconds seemed to tick my interminably. Did she find anything? What was going on? Monty was a very inquisitive and curious weasel by nature, and not knowing was quite torturous for him. But it was after some time had passed, Miri's odd song drifting up to their ears that she finally exclaimed that she had found something. Monty nearly jumped out of his pelt. "Hurry! Pull her up!" he demanded of the Warden, who merely grunted a reply and began to heave and pull back on the wheel, cranking it around and around and around and lifting the platform gradually up....up.....up out of that black hole.
Not waiting for the platform to get all the way to the top, Monty reached down and grasped under Miri's armpits in order to pull her out of there. "Are you alright? What did you find?" his paws felt something slick under the pads, and he drew his paws away, grimacing as he realized she had fallen into the water as he suspected. "Yech. We should try and clean you up a bit." he said, waving his paws to dry them off. "Sorry you had to go through that Miri but do tell...what did you find?" he asked, his eagerness returning to his voice after he could be fairly certain that aside from dirty, Miri was physically alright.
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Post by bookity101 on May 27, 2009 10:25:17 GMT -5
Miri nodded at Monty's assessment of her clothes, "Yes sir, that would be great," She turned to the Warden, thanking him with a nod of her head. Miri opened her mouth to speak, she had to quickly cover it to avoid coughing in Monty's face. Shaking herself, she tried again, her voice rasping a little. "Took a while, but after I fell, I pushed this"she pawed the bundle off to Monty, "into that... umm," She puased, trying to figure out exactly what was down there, "into the slime pit."
Miri drew in another breath to ask a question, but was stopped again by a loud cough. When the she finished coughing, She turned to look at the Warden again. "Sir, do you think that I could get some water?" She made a face, "That slime down there tastes really awful."
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Post by Ladorak on May 27, 2009 15:07:43 GMT -5
The badger gave off an amused smile. "I bet it does. Yes....you may get some water. I'll take you back to the upper levels of the barracks now." He led the way out of the oubliette area and Monty unwrapped the waterproof parchment in his paws but the lighting down here was just so poor there was no way he'd be able to read it until they got the upper levels.
Humming to himself as they moved past the rows of solitary confinement cells, the weasel did his best to block out the stench of putrid beasts down here. They probably had not bathed in weeks, and the aroma of their musk was quite pungent down here. It was why he did not whistle, as that would have required gulping in air through his mouth.
Heading up and out of the dark recesses of the basement of the Chatelet, the warden led them through the locked gate (requesting the guard on the other side paw him back his keys) and then took them into a courtyard out in the daylight. Cells lined the wall that faced the river, and the two connecting walls to this one. The last wall, the one behind them and where they had come from, housed the barracks and warden's quarters. "This way." he said, leading off to the right, into a door and up a flight of stairs where there were a few empty guard rooms. "You can head into any one of them and you will see a small sink in each room with a tin cup beside it. Make use of those for your potable needs." he instructed Miri.
He stood outside with Monty, who was using the ample sunlight that streamed through windows to read the message. It was from Spindrick again...and this one was a bit more direct than the last had been. "What are you planning on doing with that rock?" the warden asked, referring to the amethyst.
"Return it to your nation's Treasury, from whence it was stolen." was the detective's response.
"Terrible shame.....might fetch a good price in the right circles." the badger said.
"That's OK thanks. I have all the money I'll need. This belongs back with the Royal Collection." Monty brushed the warden off.
"Too bad you're such a straight arrow." the warden said with a wink. "Otherwise I might have to throw ya in here yourself." he gave the weasel a hearty pat on the back, and Monty was rather relieved that his fellow mustelid had no designs on the amethyst himself either. He waited patiently for Miri to finish up. If she needed to clean herself down well, there was a bar of soap in the room too, and he stood away from the doorway just in case she decided to make use of it.
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Post by bookity101 on May 28, 2009 20:12:16 GMT -5
Miri didn't notice the smell of the beasts they passed, the stink that covered her was more than enough to keep her attention. Nodding to the warden as she entered the room. Turning the tap on high, she stuck her head under it, making use of the bar of soap to scrub all exposed fur. Then she removed her belt and took the things out from it, running all of them under the water as she rinsed her mouth. Miri wrinkled her nose at her loose fitting blouse and trousers, and decided she would change them as soon as she had a decent bath. Re-packing her belt and picking up her bag as she left, Miri re-entered the main room.
"Thanks for letting me borrow your guard room," She nodded a head back towards were the prisoners were kept, "You might want to see about getting them a bath to." She wrinkled her nose again, but a gleam of amusement was visible in her light blue eyes. "Some of them smell worse than I did."
Miri strode over to where Monty was standing, but kept far away enough that her clothes wouldn't brush his, or that he would smell them to badly. "What have we got here Jal Sylver?" reaching out a paw to look at the amethyst to look at, if he didn''t mind that is.
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Post by Ladorak on May 29, 2009 9:44:52 GMT -5
The badger didn't respond. He might have said something along the lines of prisoners forfeiting their rights once they were convicted, but he kept his mouth shut. No need to point that out to her, it was his job to run his prison as he saw fit after all. But maybe a bath would do them good....the stench down there.....it was one of the reasons he seldom visited that part of the Chatelet.
Monty allowed her to hold the amethyst. "It's another one of the Crown Jewels." the weasel said. "And this message.....it's from cousin.....and it's more direct than the last one we received. He's essentially telling me that he's glad I found his clue and that if we're interested he has not left the city yet....that's very strange. He must have somehow slipped the prisoner this message. Maybe he was a cohort of Spindrick's." Monty chewed on his lower lip, thinking this over for a minute or two.
"So he's telling us that everyday he takes his lunch to the Garden of the King's Palace....which isn't far from here." The Garden was not actually private property anymore since the King was SUPPOSED to be permanently living in his summer palace outside of Cosnair itself, and thus the grounds of the winter palace were now for the public to enjoy. It was only recently that the King had been forced back into his winter palace, and the Scarlet Guard kept a tight watch over the garden's grounds now, though it was still public accessible.
"Well let's see.....not too long until noon. I wonder...." Monty was turning things over in his head now. "Knowing Spindrick....I doubt he'd lay a trap in a public area...but still....he's crafty too....and very clever....a criminal mastermind one might say." the detective wrinkled his nose again. Miri didn't smell too bad. He could probably tolerate it as they traveled. "What do you think? You'd have time to fully wash up if you want, and if not then I'd say we should get over to the Palace Garden. I could fill you in on Spindrick too on the way, just to make certain you're ready for anything he might pull....though of course even I can't always predict his moves." It was something Monty would admit to. He had pride, but it was not overwhelming. He was more than willing to give credit where it was due.
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Post by bookity101 on Jun 6, 2009 16:16:23 GMT -5
“Miri nodded at what he said. She thought it over as she finished drying off the things in her belt. She turned to the Warden, looking at him but not really paying him any attention. “You said that the now dead prisoner has only been around for about a week,” She rubbed her chin, gazing at the stone in her paw. “He might have staged the escape after he got the rock from Spindrick,”.. She walked over to Monty and pawed the rock back to him. “We probably won’t find much anything else about him here.”
She walked away from them both, lifting her clothes away from her body. “If we are going to a public place, I well need to change my clothes and take a quick bath…” She let the cloth fall from her paw, “I will make a scene because of the smell,” She shrugged turning a bit towards the door, waiting for Monty to lead the direction that they would head. “If you’re worried about the time it will take, I don’t take as long as most girls do to get ready.”
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