Gina called a cavern meeting in her workshop of all her minions. There was Shale the gnomes, wearing their backpacks and newsboys caps, all armed with daggers, stonework and toughness. Pappi the Dryad in wraps of earth tone strips of cloth, an assortment of potions and friend of the natural world. Szef the Wisp, flames flickering over the blue robe, master of runes and the kitchen. Sapana the Naiad, elegant in blue shimmers, master of the mind. Kawn the Sylph and the gang, all of them in bright loose clothing, controllers of the space around them.

Gina had never called them together before, it was nice, like a real family. Once Uden was able to join they would have to make these get togethers a regular thing. She summoned some snacks for them all, they didn’t need to eat but it felt like the thing to do as they gathered together on the workbench.

She started her speech, not giving one before she didn’t know how to start, but she reminded herself of her old Dwarven master’s favorite phrase “you can’t get better if you don’t fail a few times.”

“Family, I don’t know if you felt it, but we finally have the dungeon back in our control” There was a trio of cheers coming from Shale and Kawn and the gang started buzzing around in joy. “All right, it may be a good thing, but we are not free yet.” They quieted down at that. “The Silver’s Debole is not going away anytime soon, unless we make them, before you get too excited, we can’t just force them out! We are not strong enough right now, and even if we do get them to leave, they are just the edge of the organization, they will bring back more and use us for all we are worth.”

The group grew silent at that. As much as they all wished that they could defend the dungeon against everyone, they knew deep down that they were vulnerable.

“The bad news is, and I am sure you are all aware of this and many of you may even had a hand in this… “Several of the wee folk looked down when Gina mentioned the incident” … One of the bandits found the maze and never made it back. The good news is, that after talks the bandits think she was a target of some practical jokes and couldn’t handle it anymore, so she left.” There were some poorly suppressed laughs at the table. “So I say, if that works, let’s go with that!” They all cheered. This was their home, and it was time to clean out the attic.

-

The leaders of the Silver’s Debole were the only ones left in the bar, occupying one of the 4 seat tables. Apparently, the easy life that they had found themselves inn had caused the troops to forget their training. There was practical jokes, mistrust, and apparently minor thieving within the ranks. The only real rule the organization had was never steal from another member, the practical jokes were not as serious but the second they interfered with a mission… there would be a correction.

“So, no one reports anything of value missing, so we can rule out Nancy stealing and dashing or anyone silencing her for their crimes.” This came from Bobert, head accountant. He wore the standard cloak over simple (but comfortable) cloths, a button up shirt, simple vest and nice pants. He was a believer that any accountant that lived better than the people they serve, are thieves among thieves. He did have a little bit of a second chin, but he offset it with a dashing hat that just happened to cover his deeply balding head.

The next one to speak was the head of the enforcers, Jason, he was a tall man with tightly corded muscles, dark hair and a crooked nose. He wore tight clothing fitted with strategically placed metal plates, some for protection, others for turning his elbows or knees into bone breaking weapons. His hat looked like a simple bowler, but underneath was layer of steel. When he was in the public eye, he wore a long ill-fitting coat that made him look like any other laborer. “We can’t rule out foul play, no one here seems to have a motive but not all motives are up front. I looked around the cave and there is no way anything happened in here, but I will be scanning the woods when morning comes. “

The last of the 3 was Shelia, the person in charge of logistics, she was Nancy’s direct report and had trained her. She was the hardest hit by her disappearance but wasn’t about to not do her job. She was the best dressed of the 3 coming out here from her post in the city, this was a valuable opportunity, and she wasn’t about to leave it to anyone else. She wore black slacks, shined shoes, patterned button shirts and a waistcoat of many pockets full of many things. Over everything she wore a gray grand jacket with silver buttons and silver thread embellishments. “Whatever happened, the best action we can take right now is put out a Sheathe order on Nancy, in case she has ran. She didn’t say anything to me, which would suggest that she is backstabbing instead of shelving, that is if she really has canceled her bet, we could still find her rusting in the river.”

Bobert Sighed. “You know you it’s just us in here, you don’t have to use code right now.”

“Yes, I do, it’s not about who is listening, it is about being a professional, so you don’t mess up when your life is on the line. I know you don’t feel that way, being inside all day, but my team’s life is ALWAYS on the line.”

“Shelia is right” Jason’s deep voice cut in. “We have the codes to keep the count down, the fewer silverware we have to rust the more organized we can keep the drawer.” He knew Bobert was getting annoyed, and it made him happy to see that chair pillow on the receiving end of the frustration for once.

“Fine! Forget I said anything! But I don’t think we will find Nancy ‘Rusting’ on the bottom of the river, no seemed to have any reason to think her ‘alloy was impure’.”

“I will agree with that, guilty people try not to draw attention, if someone had a grudge they wouldn’t have started with a prank spree.”

Sheila took over the conversation, using her business tone “So it all is reduced to this. Nothing was missing from our accounts, right?

“Yes, the books add up”

“Nothing is missing on the books, nothing of value was taken from the crew, Nancy was disgruntled by her transfer, and someone was making her feel unwelcome.” She glanced around to table, no one disagreed. “She either left because she had other offers, she left to get away from someone or she is still around, rusting somewhere because someone wanted her out of the drawer” She paused again, no one had anything to add. “Suggestions on next steps?”

“Yeah, keep the stuff she left behind in her room and leave a scratch on the door so we can see if anyone goes through her stuff, anyone with an issue with her would want to go through her stuff”

“Scratch? How will that help anything?” Bobert was once again confused by the codewords being used.

“Scratch means making sure if someone goes in, they leave a mark that can’t be undone. It may be a hair or bit of fluff that get’s moved, or it can be a bit of wood sticking out of the door that leaves a scratch. You know, security things.”

Bobert gave him a long look, trying to see if he was just making stuff up now, but eventually gave up, the mans emotions were a stone fence. “I will compare the scouting reports with the inventory and make sure everything that was estimated to be delivered actually made it into the inventory. It might have not been gold that was being skimmed.”

“The only other thing, aside from putting out the sheathe order like I mentioned, will be to monitor the associates, if the pranking stops we know it was targeted, if someone asks to fill her position we can assume there was motive, if things start not adding up now she is gone someone else’s alloy may have been impure.” Another pause and glance to make sure everyone had taken the same rail. “The last question we have to answer is if we are sure the locals had nothing to do with this. With no signs of violence here, no one acting suspicious and no incidents of them finding their way into the quarters from the bar area I would have to say the chances are almost nothing, anyone disagree?”

Jason sat up a little straighter, this was his job on the line. “That would be my assessment, the owner is a coward, the bartender holds herself like someone with combat experience but has made no aggressive moves towards any of our associates, and the portabique would leave a mess. Oh, and the farmers boy has stuck to the kitchen and doesn’t seem that bright to begin with. The owner is a mess though and could lash out at some point, it would be messy but there is no real damage he could do, the bartender seems too smart to do anything stupid and too worn out to do anything too smart.”

“So no danger.”

“Again, the owner seems unstable, I would like to see the owner gone, but he could have also hired someone to do something stupid, I say we put him in the kitchen to work for a while and cut him off from communicating. If he is relieved to be out of the spotlight we know he wasn’t plotting anything, if it makes him nervous to be cut off from everyone than he is guilty of something and we just let him rust, no questions.”

“What about the farmer boy? What if that is the owner’s contact?”

“I have one of my men following the farmer boy and there has been no change in behavior. And again, if they are plotting together, than us putting them together should make them nervous and they will slip up.”

Bobert jumped into the conversation “Why even keep the owner around then? We kept him as the face to keep the locals from asking about the changes, if we switch up now aren’t they just going to start asking questions anyway?”

“I can see your point” Shelia responded, knowing Jason had little patience for Bobert. “The locals may ask questions, but the owner helping out in the kitchen leads to easier answers than if the owner of a brand-new inn just vanishes. The other reason we can’t just let the owner rust is as long as there is a small chance he had something to do with Nancy not reporting in, we need to keep him within reach.” She gave Bobert a look of such an intense feeling of disappointment that he didn’t understand this that the man shifted and squirmed under her glare.

“I think we are all in the black here, close the accounts for now?” Bobert squeaked out after finally managed to break free from Shelia’s gaze long enough to speak.

“Close the accounts” Jason agreed.

“Closed” Shelia said without breaking her gaze from Bobert.

Shelia grabbed a mug of the dwarven ale, she wasn’t one to get drunk. Bobert was one of the best of the organization, loyal and well trusted, she had personally picked him out for this assignment. But when things go missing, and when people go missing as well, it would take an idiot to not suspect the person that suggests more people should go missing before the issue was resolved.

She sat down in the dark corner and watched the crew coming in from the cavern. The bartender took her spot behind the counter as the owner was ushered into his new home in the kitchen. It was getting late, the bar would reopen the next day, she would have much to think about and much to observe over the next few days. She took a sip and smiled a little, these were the times that made this job worthwhile. The challenge, the mystery, the suspense.

Bobert walked by toward his room to sleep for the night. The man was smart, book smart, he never worked out on the chopping block and she didn’t think he would ever allow his allow to become impure, but sometimes the quiet ones surprised you. And even if she knew he would never turn on the organization, it would be fun to see him melt under an investigation.