Case: Ashensquare

There was a sudden knock on the office door that made Investigator Roderick Usher drop his tea. He pushed his armchair away from the oaken desk with a sigh, bending to scoop up the now-empty porcelain cup from the floor.
"Come in!" he barked, looking at the tea soaking into the crevasses in the office floorboards. The door opened, and closed. Rising back up, Usher met the gaze of a red-robed man with a high mitre upon his stern brow.
"Ah! Father Eli, how nice of you to pay a visit," Roderick smiled, placing his empty cup on the table.
"What news?"
"There was a fight at the warehouses last night. Words is, some contraband was brought into the city from the north by a new gang. Some vigilante locals had tried to stop them, it seems."
"You... You mean we've got a job?"

Father Eli Darenport rolled his eyes. The ex- Witch Hunter had done nothing since his dismissal except for putting up an office and sitting there, drinking tea. There had been no proper cases to investigate thus far, as Roderick was loathe to accept jobs from elderly people trying to find their belongings. The newly-founded Brotherhood of the Absent Flame still stood behind Usher, ready for anything. This private investigator had been the only one willing to drive the Brotherhood's ambitious goals.
"Yes, Roderick, we have a case. A friend of mine from the City Watch tipped me off on this one, asked us to look into it. Unofficially, of course," the priest said, holding the Investigator's gaze.
"Of course..." Usher replied, pushing himself up from his chair and turning to the bookshelf behind him. After a brief search he turned back to Eli and spread out a map on the desk. A map of the Oldentown District.

"Right... so there's been a mysterious shipment that's been smuggled into the city through the warehouse block," Usher mumbled thoughtfully, tracing his finger across the parchment.
"The nearest tollhouse there is that of the North Gate, which keeps the yet-untolled wares at..."
"Ashensquare," Father Eli cut in.
"That's right. After the day's work the tollhouse clerks pile up the goods there, safely away from the slums, leaving them under the responsibility of the nightwatches," Usher continued, getting visibly excited as he slammed his index finger down on the map.
"Then that is where we're headed! Are there any Brothers you can round up by nightfall?"
"Only the forester, Reece. He's working by day so he'll still be sober if I fetch him now, before he gets to the Goat's End for a pint."

The twin suns of Ghur were setting, casting the rooftops of Puffington in a soft, orange light. The streets were were growing quiet as the denizens headed back to their homes and local taverns after the day's work. Yet when others headed away from the greeneries of the Ashensquare Park, three men walked towards it in the shadows of the alleyways.

Roderick, Eli and Reece strolled into the park, looking around for any signs of life. The park was quiet.
"Alright, there are the wares," Usher noted, lifting the brim of his hat with a gloved hand.
"I'll check the ones by that shack, you two see what's in that cart."
Eli and Reece nodded, and the three men spread out.

The objectives: one pile of wares in the middle of the square, one to the east, one to the west, and two toppled carts to the south and north. Any of them could contain something of interest.

There was movement on the other side of the park, not yet visible to Usher's men. It was the Puffington Muffins & Puddings Militia, a civilian vigilante street patrol funded by one of the local bakeries. Led by Chief-Baker Tchednik, these burly men and strange sidekicks seemed to be after the park's wares too...

Father Eli and Brother Reece were still making their way to the southern cart as Usher reached the shack. He turned over the pots, baskets and barrels as he searched, even fiddled with the locks of one of the strongboxes. Yet there was nothing suspicious here.

Raising his gaze, Roderick spotted a muscular man and a tentacled apparition in the middle of the park, going for the pile of wares there. He instinctively placed his hand on his holstered pistol.
"Who goes there?!" he called out.
"Eh... the Puffington Muffins & Puddings Militia here! There was some trouble so we came here to check it out..." the big man replied, looking around, having not yet spotted Usher.
"And I might ask the same of you... Who are YOU, and what are YOU doing here?"

The man was dressed head to toe in red armour, carrying a huge axe and a shield. When he shouted out the creature beside him cackled maniacally, sniffing the air.
"We are operatives of the Usher's Unofficial Investigation Office, here to track illegal activity," Roderick called back, still staying hidden behind the barrels.
"We must ask you to leave this park immediately. You are interfering our investigation."
"Not going to happen, I'm afraid!" the big red man called back while walking to the pile of  boxes.
"We are here on behalf of the people of Puffington, ensuring their bright and prosperous future! Your selfish activity proves you are against us, not with us. Prepare to feel the judgement of the commonfolk!"
"So be it," Usher sighed, and rose up from hiding.

As Roderick rose from his cover, the laughing tentacle-beast started running at him. Usher primed his pistol and extended his arm. He aimed, waiting for several heartbeats as the beast closed in while sending bolts of orange flame at Usher's assistants. As the pink horror was jumping over the fence just in front of him, he squeezed the trigger and a shot cracked in the silence of the setting night. The creature fell to Usher's feet with a hole in its supposed face.

On the southern side of the park, Eli and Reece were running for the cart when the flaming bolts hit home. Father Eli dodged the bolt coming at him, but the other caught Reece in the side. The Brother gasped in surprise as he was knocked from his feet. On the ground he began twitching madly as the magical flames spread out across his robes.

The red-armoured man was coming for Eli now, hefting his great axe and chanting something. The priest walked up to the cart, took out his book of prayers and began a chant of his own. Soon his eyes were blazing with golden light, and as his chanting grew louder the eyes of the Red Warrior lit up in gold too. The big man screamed in agony, dropping his shield and axe and tearing at his helmet. When Eli's chanting reached it's climax and suddenly stopped, the warrior fell on the flagstones, the eyeslits of his helmet emitting smoke.

Usher had reloaded his pistol and now vaulted over the fence onto the square. The baker had entered the scene, and Roderick would have words with him.

Usher ran into the middle of the park, firing his pistol on the go. The shot went wide of the strange gentleman patiently waiting for him, but Roderick quickly holstered the weapon and drew his silver greatsword. His first strike was met mid-air by the Baker's staff.
"The loveliest of evenings to you, Investigator," Tchednik said, his voice like melted butter. One of the baker's arms was holding the staff in the air, the other held casually behind his back. A true gentleman.
"How may I help you?"
"You are interfering with an unofficial investigation, baker," Usher hissed from behind gritted teeth.
"Call off your men and your daemonic servants, there is nothing for you here!"
"Oh, you are quite wrong there, Investigator. There is something here I have come to pick up, and there's nothing you can do about it. I'm just a citizen having a stroll in the park."

Usher pushed Tchednik away and swung his sword again, this time scoring a grazing slash across the baker's belly. Another big man, this one in green armour, ran to the scene and placed himself in between the combatants. Roderick parried the heavy strikes of the warrior's hammer before smashing his sword into the man's knee. As the green warrior went down, Usher jumped over him and set after the retreating Tchednik.

Hearing the Investigator was coming again, the mysterious gentleman spun about and sent a bolt of purple fire at Roderick, but the spell dissipated before impact. The pendant around Usher's neck was shining bright blue.
Roderick charged Tchednik once more, and the two exchanged blows in quick succession, one after another. When Usher's greatsword came downwards, a staff snapped out to parry it. When a runic blade lashed out at the Investigator, he sidestepped and lunged, which in turn was again smacked aside by the staff. The runic blade slashed a wound into Usher's thigh, and he bull-charged the sorcerer against the wall of the building behind them.

"Be careful not to overreach your authority, Investigator," Tchednik said, looking Usher into the eye as they stood face-to-face.
"I believe your licensed actions are severely limited tonight by your investigation's rather... unofficial nature. Am I correct?"
"Sigmar's balls!" Roderick cursed, realising the man had done nothing wrong to warrant an arrest or an on-the-spot execution. Except for the magical bolt, that is, but that event would be hard to prove at court.

"Oh my... is that the sound of the nightwatch I'm hearing? We better hurry off, Investigator, or we'll have to explain all this to the real authorities," Tchednik grinned. Usher grimaced, but let go of the man he held against the wall.
"Go then, sorcerer. I'll catch you next time we meet," Roderick said, signalling Father Eli to help Brother Reece back to his feet.
"I look forward to that," came the reply.

Tchednik then walked up to the cart and picked something up from amongst the boxes. Smiling gently, the baker waved his hand as he walked away into the shadowy streets. Usher and Eli did likewise, carrying the badly burned Brother Reece along.

When the nightwatch got to the scene, he found nothing but two big men groaning on the flagstones of the park and telling the guardsman they'd lost their way after leaving a tavern.