Case 3.1: A Peculiar Lead
A surprise visitor to the police precinct had Captain Mackey worried. He told the party to wait in the office while he spoke with them.
Not wanting to wait to find out what was wrong, Jericho had Eddie place one of his invisibility gadgets on him, so he could follow the captain unseen. Mackey entered an interrogation room, with Jericho quickly and silently following behind, a troll was sitting in there with a cup of coffee in hand.
The troll revealed themselves to be the son of the Mother, the leader of the Bridge Gang, a notorious group of trolls, goblins, bugbears, and other noncitizen races.
They told the captain that they overheard their mother talking about getting back into the Blood Trade, the illegal harvesting and distribution of human (specifically Conduit) blood. And remembering how badly the Bridge Gangs’ last attempt at working that market ended, he didn’t want the gang to go down that path again and potentially have history repeat itself.
The troll told the captain that he thinks the Mother may plan to, or even already had, abduct a conduit, but wasn’t certain, or privy to the details himself, nor would he know where they would store one.
With not much else to work with, Mackey thanked the lad for his information and asked the other officers to help escort him out of the building quietly.
Mackey made his way back to the CTF’s office, while Jericho slipped into a restroom to shut off the invisibility gadget to no avail.
Jericho crept back into the office and got Eddie to remove the device, but not before Mackey noticed his absence. But buying Jericho’s tale of needing to use the restroom, Mackey communicated all he had been told. Eddie and Jericho demanded to interrogate the troll, but Mackey refused them, declaring that they didn’t have anything to detain the boy, as there was no evidence of a violation being committed other than the tip he gave.
With scant else to go with, the officers went and talked to their informant, Niko, who once again led them on a brisk chase, which was cut short when Eddie drew out his crossbow and threatened to open fire. With both Niko and Fingle skeptical if he was sincere or not, she halted and allowed herself to get “arrested”.
After a brief lunch from Sandwich Queen (with no onion rings, as per Jericho’s orders), Niko wistfully notified the officers that she hadn’t picked up on any currently captured conduits or any of the Bridge Gangs’ current plans. What she could tell them was of a bar owned by the high-ups in the Bridge Gang, so maybe they might turn up some answers there.
