Recudor: Repaying the debt

Sharpe has entered Sidequest #2 - Recudor: Repaying the debt.

Sharpe sidesteps a small group of people coming around the corner and stops before the big gate out of the northern district. The ever present cool and salty winds from the sea steadily blow into his back, making for a rather cold and uncomfortable afternoon. Taking a moment to review the last few events it finally occurs to him just how late it has been, due to long nights spent gathering information.

The northern gate stands before him and past it the small patch of forest that has over the years overtaken the old abandoned ruins of the original village that Recudor once was before growing into the bustling and lively city it is to date. Somewhere between the trees and foliage is his target, an old abandoned church that Clarent was last seen taking shelter in. "You know a lot of people come by here, and a lot of people like to talk. Curious young girl fitting your description. She looked totally out of it and passed him on the road just outside of the city gates." he recalls from last night's gossip at one of the northern Inns.

He approaches the gate further, intent on leaving the city and making his way over to the church. On his way he analyzes the guards at the gate looking for any behavior of interest. To his surprise when he made his way over to the ferry he noticed part of the central district had been made available again to the public, and some living spaces were already full with people returning to their homes. On his way here he saw a few small sectioned off areas, like the school building and the impact zone that were still closed off and guarded, although he can understand why with all the crazy things happening yesterday. "Yes, turns out it was just some group of underground thieves stirring up the neighborhood. The investigators confused it with something much worse and closed off the area, but there is no cause for alarm and the troublemakers have been caught." one of the guards at the school had explained to him. But given the things he saw the night before, and the one before that, it was rather hard to believe. Likely a cover-up of some sorts. Either way most of central was up and at it by the time he got there.

As the wind blew into his back his kept his hands in his pockets, and kept walking towards the gate. It seems that the bruhaha of the day before has finally quieted down, and so the alertness level of the guards will be lower. Thus he can start delving more into the matters of most concern presently. But first, he must recover the young miss.

Sharpe examines the attire and armaments of the guards, basically the same as the ones he sees all over the rest of town. They could be better armed but considering how far away they are from Global or Teyness it would be highly unlikely they could get higher quality military melee weapons or protraction firearms as opposed to crossbows. Chemical propellant weapons like the ones of old were out of the question, even with the resources the Trader's Guild could have at their disposal. Nor do they have the facilities at present to execute larger scale ammunition production, or parts-making. As well, the lifestyle and overall philosophy of the people down here could mean that the concept of artistically crafted weapons is more prevalent than standardization. He enjoys his quality and artistry but when it comes to arming your police force and primary garrison, you don't have the time to individually craft a weapon for every soldier.

He shakes his head and proceeds toward the gate. He walks up to one of the guards who doesn't look so busied.

"Good day. The church down the way, is it right along the road or just off it?" He asks of the guard.

The guard at the gate Sharpe addresses greets him back. "Good afternoon to you." He returns and shifts his weight into something more comfortable. "Sure is, but it's been abandoned for generations now. There won't be any people there and it's likely closed off for investigation."
The man turns to look out the gate and to the small patch of thick trees and bushes that have slowly grown out of control over that part of the area. He points over to a very faintly visible structure. "It's that first building there, used to be a bit out of the initial village they say."

Sharpe takes a quick glance over to the overgrown building. It's hard to make out as a church, but there don't seem to be any people nearby, so chances are his info was right and the authorities may have moved out by now.

Sharpe looks back at the guard and nods.

"Thank you. Have a nice day." He says simply, and begins his trek towards the church. As he walks near, there doesn't seem to be any guard presence at all though that could be due to the direction he is coming from, or they are actually inside. He'd hate to be surprised by some enforcers not letting him in.

His path transitions into forest growth, with leaves and flooring crunching underfoot along with various plants being moved aside as he steps on errant stems.

Sure enough the building inside the ticket turns out to be a church. Run down and overgrown it stands empty and abandoned, reclaimed by nature. The single large wood door remaining of the two that made up its front entrance is partially broken off the wall, resting splintered and rotting against the door frame. Looking inside the opening just large enough for someone of average male size to fit through Sharpe sees overgrown wooden flooring with shattered glass and broken benches scattered across the large room. It's very similar in structure to the church he had visited last night, though some of the designs and architecture would suggest a much more grand appearance in its time. Sharpe steps inside and checks for any signs of people nearby. While there may have been people here yesterday the place is now as empty as it supposedly had been for many years. The only notable features of the insides are a broken off center stone altar with some light shining directly ontop of it through the broken roof, and the railing to what might be a staircase besides it. It seems someone had been here only recently and moved the altar to reveal some passage way.

Sharpe walks past the pews steadily, being quite deliberate with his footsteps. He gazes upon the light showing on the altar, and the staircase beside it. He walks over to it and peers down the staircase. Either it's where Clarent went, or the guardsmen after. Either way, only a way in. He looks around and makes sure he's not being followed, or if something is lurking around the church.

He keeps his hand on his sword's hilt, ready to draw at a moment's notice should the need arise.

As Sharpe surveys his immediate area he doesn't see any signs of being followed or stalked. No sounds or movement can be seen or heard, only the cold draft following the stone staircase before him.

Sharpe begins his descent down the staircase, taking each step one at a time. He keeps his eyes trained on the darkness, watching for any signs. The draft isn't too bad, just a small blowing, as if inviting him in to cool down so to speak.

He gets to the base of the staircase and begins looking around for any signs of Clarent's habitation.

The staircase makes way to a narrow hallway. There is just enough space for Sharpe to move in between the dusty old stone walls of what turns out to be some sort of tomb of catacomb. There's no signs of life as he moves forward at a steady and careful pace eventually leading him to an intersection. From here on the passage ways seem to give a little more room with horizontal niches filled with stone coffins, spiderwebs and the occasional burned down wax candles. To Sharpe's surprise, some of the candles are lit, despite the absence of any person or thing, and the supposed abandonment of the place.

Sharpe pauses in front of one of the candles, contemplating who could be replacing them whenever they use up their wick. Someone still uses this place in some fashion after all. The question of who it is though is still completely unknown.

He takes one of the candles that seems to be not really needed and begins walking down the corridor, examining the catacombs, still searching for signs of Clarent. Perhaps she isn't even here, but it would still be a good idea to keep tabs on this place, it could serve as a good safe house if the conditions are decent enough.

He comes to the intersection and turns to the right, figuring he'll explore until it leads to a dead end, then head back and sweep the rest of the place.

Sharpe decides to take the right, moving down the corridor untill he enters a much wider room. The room mirrors the appearance of the rest of the catacombs but carries no notable features so Sharpe continues through the area and enters another corridor. He follows the corridor for quite some time, still the candles around him are lit as he goes on and on and on. Eventually Sharpe stops as he enters a smaller room where the corridor continues straight ahead and a staircase on each side of the modest room. One leading down the other up.

Sharpe looks at each staircase and ponders. If he goes up, it could wind up in an office. If he goes down it could lead to... well whatever is further inside the catacombs. As such he takes the stairway that leads upwards.

Contrary to Sharpe's assumption, going up the stairs leads him into another floor of the same type of hallway with a shallow low hanging ceiling and considerably less coffins, in fact none at all. There are candles here, too, however these are not lit and Sharpe can barely make out a door consisting of rusty metal bars just ahead. A very faint but sweet aroma slowly creeps up on Sharpe from beyond the metal door. Taking only a few steps towards it he notices a lock built in to the door. It's old but still firm, and Sharpe is left with a hunch that the door will turn out to be locked if he tries to open it.

Sharpe grabs the handle of the door, but instead of turning it, listens to his hunch and backs away from it, and proceeds to retrace his steps down the hall. He comes back to the room with the other stairwell and he proceeds down that one instead.

After returning the way he came from Sharpe decides to head down the stairs. As he moves away from the upper floor the sweet scent begins to fade away behind him. When he arrives at the bottom of the stairs he is immediately greeted with a wall in his face, as the hallway takes an immediate 90 degree turn to the left and continues on to what appears to be a small circular room ahead. Again there are candles down here, and once again none of them are lit, but from the bottom of the circular room is some faint light emitting.

Sharpe recoils at the sudden appearance of the wall.

"Least it wasn't dust." He says to himself, and he keeps walking. As he comes upon the circular room and sees the light, he draws his primary pistol and keeps it ready, but not aimed at the faint glow.

As Sharpe advances along the corridor slowly a rusty metal staircase comes into view. The spiraling stairs are supported by a thick pole running down the middle and seem to come down in a wider, and much taller, oval antechamber. Crouching down to take a peek past the stairs through the opening just big enough to fit him he spies the source of the light. A man in casual but ragged and worn down clothes  is heading down the antechamber, away from the staircase and Sharpe. He is carrying a torch which is lighting up the area below and as he gets to a big metal gated door he holsters the torch on an empty holder on the wall and fiddles around with the door, before opening it up with a pair of keys and continuing down the corridor without his torch. It doesn't seem like anyone else is down there aside him.

Good, its not what I thought it was. Sharpe takes a few steps down the stairwell, trying to be as quiet as possible but also not lose track of the man. Perhaps he can lead him somewhere, perhaps to Clarent, if he knows of her anyway.

The first step makes a bit of a clang, but he corrects the issue for the next step, and the one after that, and so on. He makes his way down to the bottom, but remaining vigilant if the man looks back.

Sharpe descends down the rusty spiral staircase. It feels though it could give way any moment as he makes his way down, but he arrives below safely. Giving a quick glance across the mostly empty antechamber he sees the man with his back turned to Sharpe and walking down the corridor ahead. Looking about the large room Sharpe notices he's entirely exposed, even though the man has not noticed him set. There is no cover in the entire room save for four pillars in each corner and only one single door on the end, with the keys still inside the lock and the torch next to it. Seems like whoever that person is does not plan on staying in there for long.

Sharpe crouches and gets up behind one of the pillars. He keeps an eye on the man, and considers his two choices. Firstly he can stay there and wait for him to come back, then get in at the last minute, or he can follow the guy and ask what he knows... which honestly might be for the better if he's as non hostile as possible. Sharpe silently walks over to the door and waits until the man is out of sight, and then walks into the corridor.

The corridor Sharpe enters is of the same design as the previous ones, though wider and with no niches and no stone coffins. Before he entered he saw the man dissapear down a set of stairs up ahead. There is only the stairs and the way Sharpe came from. Down the stairs is another lightsource. This one however is moving about, creating wildly flickering shadows of several people standing below and around a corner. 
Sharpe moves in and overhears the conversation between them.
"Yep, there and back." a rough hasty voice explains. "But you still have that." another man with a deeper voice notes. The sound of shuffling can be heard and the shadows dance intensifies as whoever is holding the other torch seems to forcefully grab something from the other. "Oi!" one of them exclaims before continuing in an annoyed tone. "Ya, I went there like said and none were there so I figured id keep it an then we can sell it for sumthin."

A short moment of silence as Sharpe tries to peek around the corner as best he can, but all he can see is the man from earlier with his back turned standing in-front of another robed man. "You are an idiot." The robed man says, his deep cold voice laced with a sense of annoyance and agression. "Bring it back to your guild and have them sell it like you said." he pauses... "Oh and. I don't need you anymore, so... we are done dealing business with one another." The man shoves a small package into the hands of the other and turns to proceed down the hall. The other man just mumbles to himself and watches him go before getting ready to turn and head back.

Sharpe listens in on the rather curt conversation, and leans out as little as possible so as not to be detected. He notes the package, which could be something of relevance later. He slides his pistol almost completely into it's holster and leans closer to the wall. He leans against it, arms crossed and waits for the man to turn the corner.

The man indeed rounds the corner and is immediately startled by the figure blocking his path.

Unable to recognize Sharpe for anyone the guy normally deals with he drops the package and pulls out two daggers, taking no time to attack the sudden intruder.

Sharpe Jumps back with a very small grin forming. It's been a while since he got to stretch his muscles. He quickly pulls out the War knife he had stowed, since this is a much more confined engagement, and keeps it ahead of him in his left hand. He pulls the heavy pistol from it's holster, which due to being left looser comes out with little effort, and he aims it right at the man's head.

"You don't wanna do that, pal. I'm only here lookin' for someone. Stow the butter knives. I've got seven rounds of forty-four and they're not too pleasant to be hit with. It ain't protraction neither. So simmer down." He says, but he's definitely ready to forcefully subdue the man if necessary.

Taken once again by surprise,  the man infront of Sharpe swears and throws his daggers to the ground. Immediately he turns and runs off around the corner, going into a mad sprint down the hall.