what up

chief-solves-a-mystery/arrives-at-scene.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+Kim and I arrived ten minutes after the alarm was tripped, because Actuarial had determined that a focus on response times would lower losses in the long run.
+
+The client, a thin dwarf with a black beard, clipped short like they did in the Border, stood outside waiting, siren blaring and warning lights flashing.
+Kim took the lead on the small talk, while I stepped back and looked at the building.
+The warehouse looked ordinary enough, with a small office adjacent.
+Black panels circled the warehouse, hiding proprietary warding underneath.
+
+The client, Dara, lived in an attached housing block and arrived shortly after the alarm went off, and no, he didn't know what had tripped it.
+Dara was quite keen to please turn off the siren, and ushered everyone into the small office attached to the warehouse.
+
+The wards were connected to a small electric receiver, which had a flashing light indicating that motion had triggered the alarm.
+The forced-entry, anti-teleport and ward-breaking lights all sat dim, interestingly enough.
+Another light underneath, labelled "Priority Emergency", remained unlit too, so the wards weren't picking up anything too time-sensitive.
+Which made dispatching Kim and I so quickly seem an odd choice.
+Not that I was going to complain about being able to bill off-hours time.
+
+―We're not contractually allowed to fully disarm the alarm until MBoCM get here, Kim said.
+	You export Deepwood, right?
+
+Dara nodded.
+
+―We can silence the sirens though.
+
+Kim held their company ID near the receiver and held down the silencer button.
+The sirens stopped, and as a bonus the alarm lights stopped flashing, and the subtle tension of standing near a loud sound lifted off our collective shoulders.
+
+―While we're waiting, Kim said, we can take care of some paperwork.
+
+―Will it be a while? Dara asked.
+
+This was an optimistic question, and Kim nodded with an empathy I shared.
+Mountberg's Board of Control for Magic barely responded to emergencies quickly, and a low priority alarm like this one would garner even less interest.
+But as much as Dara might like to see what was happening inside of his warehouse, it would not be worth violating an MBoCM regulation.
+Security wards set off at any exporters of what MBoCM considered Sensitive Magical Material required a Board response.
+And the ward owners, would be billed.
+Handy way to make a profit.
+That bill would be paid by the owner's insurance, unless of course an investigator (me) could show that it was their fault.
+Which is why an investigator like me had to show up far too early in the morning for loud alarms.
+
+Kim asked Dara to find the original certificates of installation of the security wards, along with the registration details of the Scribes who'd actually written the runes.
+I knew that Kim had that information in their folder, but if Dara couldn't produce information like that, Kim could record it in the report.
+And then Underwriting could make sure to increase Dara's malpractice premium.
+Not by a lot, but enough that Kim's reputation would go up and some executive's bonus would increase.
+
+―I'll step outside and do an inspection of the doors, I said.
+
+The panels of warding extended over the large service door of the warehouse, and I could see another electronic relay controlling a large bolt holding the door closed.
+Wards like this could trigger in a few different ways, but the most common was unexpected motion in the interior when the alarm was armed.
+In order to have motion inside, either someone from outside had to enter, or whoever was inside had to have been there since last night when the doors were locked.
+Except the type of wards made that unlikely.
+Forced-entry and anti-teleport measures were standard for wards, and the wards detected neither, which covered the obvious methods of entry.
+
+But the system had had a ward-breaking light, too.
+It took sophisticated systems to detect ward-breaking, and sophisticated systems were smart enough to detect unexpected occupants during arming.
+So how had someone gotten in to trip the alarm?
+
+The outside of the warehouse looked entirely uninteresting.
+Untouched ward panels, no damage to the service door.
+I started to walk back to the office, but 

lore/dates.txt

@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@
 1994 ― Hierarchy extremist cell arrested in Bellfort
 1995 ―
 	Summer: Free Yak Alliance loses many Assembly seats to Progress Party, as Progress Party does well in Presidential polling
-		Controversy in last round of Presidential Election Progress Party Candidate makes unsavoury comments about the Hierarchy, including dissolution and storming of the Eternal City
-	Fall: Meadowlark Union Party candidate Sonja elected as President
+		Controversy in last round of Presidential Election, Progress Party Candidate makes unsavoury comments about the Hierarchy, including dissolution and storming of the Eternal City
+	Fall: Meadowlark Union Party candidate Sonja elected as President, after unexpected polling numbers and splitting of FYA vote.
 
 1996 ― Kral born?
 	- Late Winter: Sonja officially ends policy of Suppression via Decree

sarlastory/sarla-helps-mijesi-with-book.txt

@@ -85,13 +85,9 @@ His accented voice was deep and low as he read.
 	Those cousins of the Fifth Race, the Beasts, received part of his power.
 	But the division of power was incomplete, as it was fated to be.
 
-Mijesi stopped reading.
-
 ―This is not easy to describe.
 	Bird legend, they have many myths about division.
 
-He resumed reading.
-
 ―The Birds saw that his power was beginning to slip away.
 	As the Lord's body finally disappeared, his eyes remained, unbroken and unbreakable.
 	The Bird who would become the First Sky-Lord saw the Lord's Will was tied to his Work, and as long as his Work persisted, his Will and Body could not be destroyed.
@@ -105,5 +101,15 @@ He resumed reading.
 
 The Cedar Library stood close to the Palace of Skies, hiding in its shadow.
 The curator, Miriam, waited inside with Mijesi as Sarla and her teacher entered.
-# todo if Mijesi
-She held a relatively large wooden box.
+# todo on Mijesi description
+She held a relatively large wooden box, and seemed, to Sarla's eyes, to shake with trepidation.
+
+A room with a large, ancient table in its centre awaited them.
+Miriam set the box on an indent in the table's surface, and to Sarla's eyes seemed to hesitate before speaking.
+
+―The preservation table is not without limits, as capable as it is.
+	So Mijesi, I will ask you to only act with the utmost caution.
+	If you were to damage any of my books, even the ones that weren't priceless artifacts, I would make you beg for death.
+	Understood?
+
+Mijesi started to laugh, but

sarlastory/sarla-looks-at-crime-scene.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+The door outside of the Hierarch's office imposed, an intricate tangle of gold and silver around carefully carved wooden panels.
+Master Yury was waiting, with Master Clover.
+
+―Are you ready?, Clover asked.
+
+―I'm not sure, Sarla said.
+	I still don't really know what value I can provide.
+
+―No, putting that aside, are you ready to see the remains?
+	I expect it to be unpleasant.
+
+Sarla nodded.
+
+―Any information at all is helpful, Yury added, with a kindly smile.
+	Auroklos insisted you were more likely to be helpful than he would.
+	Investigating murder is not something any of us has needed to practice.
+
+# Clover sighed.
+# ―And Laurence is just waiting for us to make a mistake.
+
+Upon walking in, stepping over a muddy carpet just inside the door, Sarla felt herself shudder on seeing a red smear leading to Rikka's body.
+The top half of the former Ennearch of Strength looked pained, with an expression of fear across his face.
+Further down, his forelegs were digging into the carpet underneath, as though he died mid-crawl.
+His rear legs were missing, or rather had been replaced with dirt, soaked in blood.
+The dirt trailed further back as well.
+
+―He was being returned to earth as he crawled, Sarla said, questioningly.
+
+Yury looked patient, but said nothing.
+
+―There are two trails of bloody dirt initially as the magic started on his rear legs, until they merge into a larger trail here, Sarla said, gesturing to the spread.
+	Until he couldn't keep moving.
+	And this one.
+
+Sarla followed the dead Ennearch's gaze to the other corpse in the room.
+This yak was unfamiliar to Sarla.
+He wore a Master's cloak, although of a colour Sarla took a moment to recognise.
+
+―That dark green is Reason?
+	A Master from the Office of Reason?
+
+There was a chunk of stone protruding from the dead yak's chest.
+
+―Is that marble?
+	It's been shaped using magic.
+	Could that be Dwarf magic?
+
+Sarla moved to touch the shard, but Clover barked at her before she could.
+
+―Sorry, just looking, Sarla said, stepping back.
+
+There was dirt across the room, and a clear sign of a struggle in the crumpled carpets and broken floor tiles.
+
+―That patch of mud near the entrance, it's odd, right? Sarla said.
+	Can I touch it?
+
+Yury nodded.
+Sarla probed a corner of the patch with her pencil.
+
+―The tile here is gone.
+	Marble is a pretty dead stone.
+	I can't remember how dead, Sarla said trailing off in thought.
+
+	Well, I could look it up, but it's quite hard to manipulate.
+	It's been weathered very quickly, and for such a dead stone that's a lot of power.
+	Keeping it wet like this takes moisture control as well, and I don't know any Soil mages who have that control.
+
+Sarla paused.
+
+―No offense meant, Master Yury.
+
+―And none taken, Yury said, impassive.
+	Continue.
+
+―It's the carpet that's most impressive, Sarla said.
+
+Clover and Yury drew closer as Sarla gestured.
+
+―You see these circular swirls.
+	That's the cotton fibres growing upwards.
+	And they're torn, like something ripped upwards through them.
+
+Sarla walked back to the yak from Reason.
+
+―Yeah, the ground under him is mud, too.
+	The shards of stone across the entrance, all from here?
+	So this is our soil mage.
+	The soil has come up his hooves, Sarla said, as she knelt closer.
+
+After thinking a moment, Sarla rose.
+
+―So they can't have killed each other, right?
+	The public announcement is just for show?
+
+Clover looked surprised, but Yury simply nodded once, curtly.
+
+―By the authority of the Council, you will keep any thoughts on this secret to others, Sarla.
+
+Sarla nodded.
+
+―So tell me, young one, what is it you think happened here?