Chapter 120

Francis
Age: 35
Identities:
Coroner
(Highly practised with needle, thread and scalpel, he works among corpses in dimly lit basements.)
Poet
(His verses neither rhyme nor read gracefully; not a scrap of image to be found. To most they are little more than noise, fit only for private amusement. Yet his enthusiasm burns unabated, and he pursues it with tireless passion.)
Hidden Identity:???
(Your keen senses detect something off. He is not merely what he appears to be.)
HP: 80
Attributes:
Strength: 6
Agility: 10
Constitution: 8
Perception: 8
Willpower: 6
Charisma: 7
Spirit: 6
Skills:
Surgery LV10
...

“Kid, I ought to warn you, staring at a man too long ... it’s rude, impolite.” Francis’s face had gone so sullen it nearly dripped.

“Sorry, I was thinking of something and drifted off, I’ll be on my way.” Roy smoothed away the odd flash in his eyes and, as if nothing had happened, walked from the cellar with the Dwarf.

When they passed into the white glare outside, the view opened and the weight pressing at his chest eased; Roy could not help asking, “Cranmer, do you know Francis well?”

This coroner’s scores in several attributes were above the common man’s, and his refined, almost effeminate appearance fit him poorly; his person was full of oddities. More troubling still was that hidden identity. Few subjects in a scry were ever described so pointedly.

Roy was not foolish enough to expose him there and then, to rattle the grass and anger the snake.

“Only in the past two months or so...” the Dwarf said, “before that I was only on guard duty at the Princely Palace, had no dealings with him. But from what I’ve seen, he’s always spouting nonsense, yet he never slacks in his work, his bearing and breeding are beyond reproach. The Order of the White Rose handles Ellander’s daily peace, they’re here often, so they know him well.”

“Still, why the sudden interest in him?” Roy asked.

The Dwarf blinked, then Roy shrugged his nose, “Just asking.” He shifted the subject, “I want to confirm once more, the killer Letho had you ambush was certainly human? Not some other humanoid monster, nothing with an unusual outward appearance?”

The Dwarf’s bell-sized eyes flickered with hesitation as he recalled, “Master Letho told us to wait until he was right before us before we struck. Besides, I went through crossbowman training; my eyes are decent.”

“By the light of the moon I glimpsed a man about six feet three, broad, long-armed. The features were blurred, I only remember the cheeks were full. His movement ... his movement was not much like a man’s.”

“Could it truly have been a monster?” the Dwarf murmured.

“Not impossible.” Roy looked toward the distant sky, “Can you tell me the addresses of the six victims’ homes, and where the bodies were found, specifically?”

“Frankly,” the Dwarf smoothed his beard, “Roy, you’re wasting breath; the Order’s already turned every place inside out, and they’ve pulled the local criminal underworld for off-the-books leads.”