Investigation Committee

[myrddin173]

[I started this thread to contain the investigation committee of Alec, Lazarus, and Safrax. Its out of real time so people we can be in both the council and here. Ravana if you have any comments please say so.]

In a room sequestered from the Council room proper, the Investigation Committee meets to discuss matters. Nodding at the others, Alec begins, "It seems that Prince Tergiv has been convicted of treason by the Curia. What is still in question is what part his brother Sebeschar and the Count Neraldsfel played in the affair. I'm inclined to believe the Count was merely opportunist but rumor has it your Duchess has some information regarding Sebeschar, is this true Baron Maderbrim?"

[Ravana]

[Nothing in particular, no. No problem with this existing in the same non-time as the Ball and the Council—apart from the current controlling factor of days passing, which presently controls the whole game: you won't be able to retroactively do something that changes history. Not that I imagine that required stating. Go with it.]

[Night Terror]

Lazarus shakes his head.

"If my Duchess has any information regarding Sebeschar, she has not shared it with me."

Lazarus removes a dagger from his belt pouch, and begins slicing an apple.

"Clearly a poisoning has occurred, and the order came from someone of influence and means. The true culprit is likely off limits to us, until enough evidence has been gathered."

"So let's begin at the bottom, and work our way to the top. Let's gather a list of every servant who attended the infamous wine tasting massacre, and had access to the food and beverages. We shall then interview those who appear most... interesting."

"Before becoming a man of the cloth, I studied the sacred art of interrogation. We can conduct the interviews personally, as a group. Surely someone saw something. This is the surest way to the truth."

"If you agree, we can have our secretaries compile the list, and arrange for the most suspicious servants to be fetched and brought before us, one at a time. What do you say? If you agree, we can get started immediately."

[myrddin173]

Alec is surprised by the revelation from Lazarus, but the new information lends him a new respect for his fellow committee member, however he is disappointed in the lack of support for the rumor. "I quite agree Baron Maderbrim. Though I doubt we will find the servants that actually performed the poisoning, the masterminds have almost definitely eliminated by now. Their coworkers would have an idea, servants after all do see everything. As the chairman of this committee though it is up to Baron Durechar to approve of this action." He turns his attention to Safrax.

[TeaBerry]

Baron Safrax leans forward, elbows on the table in eagerness.

"Wholeheartedly, I feel that the investigation must indeed begin at the bottom.

"As we have seen repeatedly in our history, those who facilitate major crimes often do so out of unwilling ignorance or have been bought and paid. Those who perpetrate the crimes, however, have so many resources available with which to cover their tracks.

"Perhaps we can find if any of the wine from the tasting remains locked away at the location. If so, I suggest we test the wine on a few animals to see if they are sickened or die. Only then will we know if any poisoned wine truly existed at some point during the event.

"This should be the first step in our investigation so that we do not tip off possible suspects. We must do so under false pretenses, however. My suggestion is that we send a page with a message that we are in need of as much wine as possible for our own gathering, and have it delivered directly to us from one or more of the servants."

[Ravana]

Short answer: while the reason suggested is implausible—or at least will be for the wine in question, all of which was impounded by the palace guard—after some discussion as to alternative means and who will need to be paid off to accomplish them, it does prove possible to obtain samples from what remains of it. Unfortunately, a couple of the vintages involved no longer remain, so those cannot be tested; the remainder test clean. You are able to acquire other samples of all the vintages, from bottles that never left the wine cellars in the first place (and which, of late, have not been in high demand), with the same results.

Which leaves the possibility that the wine was poisoned some other way than in the bottle. It also leaves the cheeses, which, however, are no longer available to be investigated, as far as you can determine. Or, perhaps, as the imperial physicians have suggested, it was sorcery.

[Night Terror]

Lazarus shakes his head.

"Perhaps it was or wasn't the wine. We need to speak with the remaining witnesses."

Lazaurs sends out instructions for any surviving servants to be summoned for questioning.

[Ravana]

Interesting you use the word "surviving": not all of them did. Two sickened and died at the same time the more widely-reported victims did; one other died six days ago, most likely of complications suspected of being connected to the knife wound found in his back. Which leaves five known to have been serving at, or directly involved in the preparation or delivery of the comestibles for, the event.

[myrddin173]

As the servants begin to arrive, Alec is sure to keep them in separate holding rooms so that they can not speak to each other between sessions. He explains, "That way they can't compare what each of them have told us. Giving the upper hand to ourselves."

[Ravana]

This thing is done. You spend the next several hours gaining a growing conviction that you are happier than you have ever realized to be highborn, given not only the frighteningly copious amount of detailed minutiae that constitutes a servant's day, the even more frightening similarity of each to the next, and the unspeakable cosmic horror of how boring it all is. No, strike that: there isn't anything "cosmic" involved.

Feel free to add specific questions you'd like answers to.