feat: wrote cobb's murder scene

lore/etymologies.txt

@@ -26,3 +26,19 @@ Rikka:
 
 Grunny:
 	Bos grunniens
+
+Threding:
+	Thirding -> cut in thirds. Alternative universe's version of "Riding" as in Yorkshire.
+
+Cobb:
+	Assistant to Suati.
+	From Saraswati's vehicle, a swan.
+	Male swan = cob.
+	Done.
+
+Suati:
+	Saraswati shortened.
+	Obvious.
+
+Mijesi:
+	Yak scholar name.

lore/named-yaks.txt

@@ -1,2 +1,7 @@
 Grunny:
 	Bos grunniens
+
+Mijesi:
+	Yak member of the cult of the rock.
+	Friends with a house finch.
+	

lore/places.txt

@@ -20,3 +20,14 @@ Tower Hall
 
 Bellfort
 	Fort La Cloche
+
+Makiwen
+	Border city near the eastern boundary of the Beast Threding.
+	Corresponds loosely with Toronto in physical space, but there's some compression and rotation in the actual Hidden Land.
+	One of two major ports to Galvarelli, the other being Sarnia in the south.
+	Most Dwarves are Border dwarves, but the Transport
+
+Sarnia
+	In the Dwarf Threding, very corner.
+	Main point of entry to the hidden lands for farm animals.
+	Rail line to the Haven.

sarlastory/cobb-is-killed.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,210 @@
+Cobb paused in front of the ornate door.
+The Palace of Skies needed to be extravagant, of course, but gold and silver filigree covered the door, each small panel representing a separate story.
+There were even accents of truesilver.
+Wasteful, he thought.
+Wealth that could be better distributed.
+Sighing, he opened the door.
+
+A young yak was waiting inside.
+―Go on in, Master Cobb.
+	Rikka's not happy.
+
+―No matter, I have good news for him, Cobb said.
+	Go along now.
+
+―No, sir.
+	Rikka asked me to wait here to make sure no one else came in.
+
+Cobb frowned.
+Rikka had erred.
+A guard could give privacy, but also added risk.
+Yet another yak to be silenced.
+
+Cobb walked through the antechamber to the inner office of the Hierarch.
+A thin layer of dust covered the room, and the air smelled stale.
+Everything in this room was precious.
+The pen sitting on the desk had a gold line across it, and an emerald embedded in its shaft.
+
+The large yak sitting at the desk caught Cobb's gaze.
+
+―Well, Cobb.
+	Looking to steal it?
+
+―No, Your Grace.
+	I was merely thinking about how the treasures in this room should be put away.
+	Such a waste, with Yakaterina gone.
+
+Rikka shook his head.
+
+―She remains our leader.
+	Her office is to be left untouched.
+
+―Of course, of course.
+	I'm not questioning the Hierarch.
+	Or rather, I do so from a position of analysis and study.
+	It is the way of Reason.
+
+Cobb leaned in, and let his voice drop to a whisper.
+
+―The yak outside.
+	Can he be trusted?
+	I hoped to be here in secret.
+
+―The boy serves me.
+	If I order silence, the secret is safe.
+
+Rikka paused, and spoke with unexpected menace in his voice.
+
+―My orders are followed, Cobb.
+	That is the way of Strength.
+	Now, what's your news?
+
+Cobb sighed, and glanced around the room.
+Meeting in the Hierarch's office seemed like a worse idea every passing minute.
+Even in the dead of night, the Palace of Skies would have people moving around.
+Getting in unnoticed had been challenging enough.
+
+―Well, Ennearch Rikka.
+	I have acquired the plans.
+	She's well-guarded.
+	They indeed claim to have found a way to block soil magic.
+	But no mention in any of the planning documents about Dwarrowfolk getting involved.
+	The room is exactly where it seems to be.
+
+―And Birds?
+
+Cobb shook his head.
+
+―None were mentioned.
+	The Aery do not care about the Republic's business.
+
+―So you don't know for sure.
+	Useless, Cobb.
+	I don't want to be surprised.
+
+―Rikka―
+
+Rikka suddenly ducked behind the desk, stopping Cobb mid-sentence.
+Cobb turned around and saw a yak near the door behind him, head covered by a thick black hood.
+
+How?, Cobb thought.
+The room had been empty, and he'd heard nothing.
+
+The intruder was walking slowly towards them, and Cobb connected to the Meadowlark.
+Underneath the thick carpets, the floor was marble.
+Beyond most soil adepts, but Cobb was a master.
+He pushed his attention into the stone, and pushed vitality into it.
+The tile below him crumbled, and he could feel it turning into soil.
+
+Immediately, Cobb's body sang in pain.
+Overestimated my own skill, he thought.
+But no time to think about that.
+
+Cobb pulled up on the soil in front of him, shaping it into thin wedges.
+As he did so, he pulled vitality out of them, turning them back into stone, flinging them at the intruder.
+Dwarrowfolk magic might be able to shape stone, but Cobb could do the next best thing.
+
+Cobb's improvised missiles slammed into the intruder's cloak, and one was actually sharp enough to pierce it, sticking in the intruder's chest.
+The intruder stopped, looking down from under the hood at it.
+Getting hit with a dozen stone shards should have done more, Cobb thought.
+
+Undeterred, Cobb started to move across the Ennearch's office to duck behind a side table.
+As he moved, he repeated the volley, but with larger pieces of stone.
+The intruder kept their eyes on the stone projectiles, dodging the two larger ones near their head.
+
+Got you, Cobb thought.
+The carpet under the intruder's feet was cotton.
+Cobb pushed vitality into the cotton fibres, reminding them of their connection to life.
+At the same time, he pushed into the marble under the intruder's feet, changing it into a thin, wet clay, rather than soil.
+In the instant after the intruder moved to dodge the rock volley, their hooves sank into the floor, and fibers from the rug tightened.
+
+Try moving now, Cobb thought, as he hardened the clay back into stone.
+Cobb reached his shielding side table, and pulled more dirt up his legs, keeping it ready to attack again.
+
+Unexpectedly, the intruder started laughing.
+
+―Ah, so this is how the Hierarchy welcomes guests? he asked.
+
+A silent moment passed.
+The intruder moved in a way that Cobb could not quite understand, and then, started to walk towards him.
+
+Cobb tried to move, and found he couldn't.
+The dirt around his body had constricted, and somehow, his connection to the Meadowlark, to magic, had been blocked.
+
+―This...this is Bird magic! Cobb shouted.
+
+The intruder neared the desk Rikka cowered behind.
+
+―Rikka, stand, the intruder ordered.
+
+Rikka reluctantly stood up.
+He might be an Ennearch, but as far as Cobb knew, Rikka's ability with the Meadowlark was paltry at best.
+
+The intruder looked over Rikka as dismissively as possible as a face-covering hood could look.
+
+―You're pathetic, Rikka, the intruder said.
+	Paragon of Strength?
+	How Yakaterina let you become an Ennearch is beyond me.
+
+The intruder laughed.
+
+―Who the fuck are you?, Rikka spat.
+
+The intruder pulled back his hood.
+Cobb didn't recognise the yak, but Rikka immediately gasped.
+
+―What?
+	You?
+
+The intruder ignored both questions.
+
+―Did you find it?, he asked Rikka.
+
+Before the Ennearch could answer, the intruder looked around and interrupted him.
+
+―No, you didn't.
+	Yakaterina was clear.
+	Don't touch her offices unless you knew what you were doing.
+	Instead you decided to hold a secret meeting here.
+	She trusted fools like you.
+	That's why she's rotting in a cell, the intruder said, shaking his head.
+
+Rikka opened his mouth to speak, and the intruder immediately moved, again in the same indescribable way that had preceded the Bird magic used on Cobb.
+
+At first, it seemed as though nothing had happened.
+But Rikka closed his mouth, then opened and closed it a few more times.
+
+Silenced, somehow.
+And from Rikka's complete lack of movement, frozen in place, just like Cobb.
+Beasts knew so little about Bird magic, Cobb thought.
+He hadn't known this was even possible, let alone that a yak could be taught to learn it.
+
+The intruder looked at the papers on Yakaterina's desk.
+He thumbed through some of Rikka's papers, then opened drawers, pulling out dusty documents.
+
+―Nothing here, he eventually said.
+	I assumed your people had an actual plan, he said to Rikka.
+	But you've been wasting everyone's time.
+	I'm doing your followers a favour.
+
+Alarm rushed into Rikka's eyes, but he couldn't do anything as the intruder again used Bird magic.
+Cobb felt a pulling through his mind.
+He felt the Meadowlark, emerging from nowhere in an instant.
+But he could feel it being controlled by the intruder, against his will.
+
+Rikka's body started shaking, and tears came to his eyes
+The bottom of Rikka's hooves started to crack, and turn a deep brown.
+The deep brown started to rise, until it reached Rikka's knees.
+Suddenly, Rikka fell over, and the bottom of his legs crumbled into soil.
+
+Cobb tried to look away, but he couldn't stop himself looking back at Rikka's form.
+Vitality was rushing through Cobb's body as he was forced to use the Meadowlark.
+Unfrozen, Rikka tried to crawl over to Cobb, but more and more of his body turned into soil until only his top half remained, with blood beginning to seep out of the seam.
+
+The intruder surveyed his grim work for a moment, then eventually pulled the stone shard out of his chest.
+
+―Well Master Cobb, I must compliment you.
+	Shaping stone without Dwarf magic?
+	And you deserve better than Rikka ever did.
+
+The stone shard jumped from his grasp, and the intruder's smile was the last Cobb ever saw. 

sarlastory/mystery-outline.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+
+Around when Sarla qualifies as Practicant, Master Cobb is found dead.
+His belongings are searched and reveal him to be an associate of Yakaterina.
+But it looks like he was having second thoughts, and was killed for it.
+Mijesi, a goat scholar and follower of the cult of the rock, is visiting at the time.
+Sarla is asked to guard him as he investigates birdsong.
+He is nice and she likes him.
+Auroklos shows up to a Council meeting and brings up concerns about the handling of Master Cobb's death.

sarlastory/sarla-arrives-at-makiwen.txt

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+